Trade and Poverty Reduction: New Evidence of Impacts in Developing Countries

The publication focuses on four constraints faced by the extremely poor – namely that they tend to live in rural areas, work in the informal sector, live in fragile and conflict-affected regions and face gender inequality.

The case studies underline the challenges the extremely poor face and identify ways to overcome them, including through the adoption of policies that maximize the contribution of trade to poverty reduction. The studies also highlight the ongoing gaps in data and research that constrain policy-making.

The publication is a follow-up to “The Role of Trade in Ending Poverty”, co-published by the WTO and the World Bank in 2015, which examined the challenges the poor face in benefiting from trade opportunities. The country-specific approach of this new publication complements the global perspective of the previous report.