This volume is part of a series of policy briefs by the Asian Development Bank. In this brief, the phenomenon of counting the world’s poverty is brought to light as being much more complex and contentious than it appears at first sight. The concept is mired in many conceptual and statistical pitfalls. Global poverty data can be a useful comparative tool to guide, monitor and measure international development. However, pending a satisfactory resolution of the issues that bedevil the poverty estimates, the efforts of the global community to measure and monitor development progress would continue to suffer from concerns of dubious credibility.