Women make up two-thirds of Asia’s poor, according to the UNDP, which means that women are twice as likely as men to suffer from poverty. And poverty is continuing to rise among Asia’s women, not only because they have lower incomes, but because of discriminatory attitudes which result in lower capabilities and opportunities. Asia has one of the world’s worst gender gaps, with Africa being the only continent behind it, based on a combination of indicators covering economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Asia is the worst region in the world for women’s health and survival relative to that of men.

In short, the benefits of Asia’s very rapid growth are not being shared in the region. And naturally the adverse situation of Asia’s women trickles down to many children, except for a family’s eldest son who is usually spoiled rotten. Child poverty is a particularly important issue in countries like Laos, Mongolia, the Philippines and Vietnam where one-third or more of the population are children.

It may seem surprising that the state of poverty is not so rosy in Asia. Many Western tourists are dazzled by the bright lights of Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangalore. But poverty is substantially a rural phenomenon in Asia, with more than half of Asia’s population living in the countryside.

The rural poor represent over three-quarters of Asia’s total poor population. Many of the rural poor are subsistence producers, family farmers or landless agricultural producers. And the poverty of urban slums is usually hidden away from tourists, despite the new fad of “slum tourism” in cities like Mumbai and Jakarta. To reduce rural poverty requires improving agricultural productivity, rural infrastructure, and access to social services. Poverty in Asia