Abstract This essay addresses a number of question regarding poverty: How do we know who is poor and who is not? Is poverty the same as hunger? What is the relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction? How will we know whether the first Millennium Development Goal has been met, or whether world poverty is falling at all? It considers the issue of poverty as a lack of income or consumption, and the broader view of poverty as the absence of one or more of the basic capabilities needed to achieve minimal functioning in society, such as food, clothing, education, and political participation. The measurement of poverty in the world is also discussed.