The United Nations Statistics Division has established a work programme to assist policy-makers and statisticians in countries to meet the growing demand for poverty statistics and related information by building up a system of poverty measurement which is responsive to national and international data needs. In this context, the United Nations Statistics Division launched a project in April 2003 with an expected output of a publication entitled Handbook on Poverty Statistics: Concepts, Methods and Policy Use.

The United Nations Statistics Division also coordinates data analysis and maintains the Millennium Indicators Database. This database includes three indicators on poverty which are supplied by the World Bank.

Other organizations engaged in the collection and dissemination of official statistics in this area are the World Bank and the International Labour Organization (ILO). The former disseminates data on income, consumption and poverty, while the latter collects and disseminates official data on household income and expenditure and wages. Please visit the web sites of these organizations for more detailed information on the data collected.