INTRODUCTION

Developing Asia has achieved spectacular progress in reducing poverty. Between 1990 and 2010, Asia lifted 786 million people out of poverty, bringing down the headcount ratio to 20.8 percent from a high of 55.2 percent. In 2010, Asia’s share of the poor in the world’s (developing countries) total poor stood at 62.4 percent, roughly equal to its share in population, an impressive performance since 1990 when Asia accounted for 81 percent of the world’s poor.

Despite this spectacular performance, poverty remains a formidable challenge for Asia. According to the World Bank, 758 million people in Asia are still below the US $ 1.25 poverty line. Indeed, on measures of the numbers of the poor and their share, global poverty is often viewed as a predominantly Asian phenomenon. The World Bank’s evidence shows that while 75 percent of the developing world’s poor still live in rural areas, the share of the poor living in urban areas is rising, and in a number of countries rising more rapidly than the population as a whole. Moreover, while poverty incidence has declined across rural and urban areas in Asia, the rates of decline are far slower for urban poverty than for rural poverty. In several Asian countries, the numbers of the urban poor have risen over the years, lending strength to the proposition that as Asian economies become more urbanized, they may face increasing urban poverty with some urban scholars labeling it as “urbanization of poverty”. Unlike rural poverty, urban poverty is complex and multi-dimensional, extending beyond the deficiency of income or consumption, where its many dimensions relate to the vulnerability of the poor on account of their inadequate access to land and housing, physical and infrastructure and services, economic and livelihood sources, health and education facilities, social security networks and voice and empowerment. In most of developing Asia, urbanization has been accompanied by slums and shelter deprivation, informality, worsening of the living conditions, and increasing risks due to climate change and exclusionary urban forms. According to the UN-Habitat, Asia has 60 percent of the world’s total slum population, and many more live in slum-like conditions in areas that are officially designated as non-slums. Working poverty and informality are high in Asian cities and towns. Urbanization is a positive factor in growth and poverty reduction. Country experiences are generally consistent with the view that a rising share of the population living in urban areas plays a positive role in overall poverty reduction, by providing new opportunities to those migrating out of the rural areas and escaping poverty in the process. At the same time, most Asian economies are struggling with complex urban problems, associated with different forms of poverty, deprivation, vulnerability and risks. [1,2]