The objective of this note is to analyze some of the diverse characteristics of 1.2 billion poor people who are the focus of the poverty reduction efforts of governments and the international development community. Despite the impressive progress in the ght against poverty in the developing world as a whole, the progress has been much slower in Low Income Countries (LICs). Poverty for middle and high income Countries fell by more than a half since 1981. For LICs, however, extreme poverty fell by less than a third.