National poverty lines reflect national consensus on minimum level of living for the people and are not clearly comparable across nations. International organizations such as the United Nations and the World Bank have been using a poverty line that refers to an income or consumption expenditure of $1.08 a day per person at 1993 PPP. The corresponding poverty estimates for India are given in Table 2.2. Using the international line, a larger number of people –about 35 per cent- turn out to be poor reflecting the fact that the international line is higher than the national line. The trend in poverty is, however, similar irrespective of whichever line is used. We might note that the MDG goal has been stated in terms of this international line and the poverty estimates in terms of this line tells us the magnitude of the task ahead to achieve the MDG goals. The table also gives poverty estimates for South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa for comparison. Note that number of poor in India in 2001 exceeds that in entire Sub-Saharan Africa, but poverty gap is considerably lower.