"An Asia that is shimmering and an Asia that is shivering..."

George Wehrfritz wrote an article in the September 8th issue of Newseek about the redefining of Asia's poverty line. With the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank raising the per day measure to those living on $1.35 and $1.25 respectively, it is expected that hundreds of millions of people will join the ranks of the world's poorest. The changing definitions raise numerous concerns, especially as many Asian countries attempt to reach the Millennium Development Goals as codified under the old definition of $1 per day. Additionally, the UN's goal to halve the global poverty rate by 2015 is significantly hampered. Of course the greatest tragedy is that more people than previously thought are still scraping to get by and as the article indicates, the bulk of the world's poor remain in Asia, despite rapid development in many regions.

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