Sri Lanka has shown the developing world how much a country with around $960 per capita GDP a year can achieve in human and social outcomes, such as primary school enrollment and child mortality (which are two of the Millennium Development Goals).
Despite this record, poverty remains a challenge for the country. The economy grew at a healthy rate over the past decade but failed to benefit the poor.
- 23% of people still live under the national poverty line.
- Between 1990/91 and 2002 per capita consumption increased by 29% in real terms. The average consumption for the richest 20% of the population increased by 50%, while that for the poorest 20% barely increased by 2%
- Inequality between urban and rural areas has been also widening with residents in rural/remote areas being left out of benefits from economic development.
Breaking the vicious cycle of poverty is a complex task; however, the first step for designing any effective poverty alleviation strategy is understanding the ground reality.
The World Bank's technical assistance has been helping Sri Lanka's government do the following:
- Establish reliable and detailed database by providing training to the officials
- Provide financial assistance for updating their data collecting and processing facility to produce official poverty lines and poverty maps (estimating poverty incidence at geographical unit far below district)
- Reform the major welfare program in the country (Samurdhi)
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Last Updated: 6/7/06
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