A number of studies have attempted to analyze the relationship between economic growth and poverty incidence across countries and time periods (see Ravallion and Chen (1997), Bruno, Ravallion and Squire (1998) and Adams (2003)). It has been estimated that, on average, a one percentage point increase in the rate of per capita income growth can produce up to a two percent decrease in the proportion of people living below the poverty line, subject, of course to the process of income change being distribution neutral in character. But inequality has tended to change in most  situations and some countries have experienced limited poverty reduction despite impressive growth performance, while others have managed to decrease poverty significantly despite relatively low growth.

The objective of this paper is to assemble on a systematic basis the available data on Asian countries and then analyze the relationship between growth and poverty on a long-term basis.