A new report released today by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has measured for the first time the size and structure of markets at the "base of the pyramid" (BOP): the four billion people worldwide earning less than $3,000 per year. Drawing on income data from 110 countries and expenditure data from 36 countries, The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid provides an analytic foundation for assessing business and development opportunities within BOP markets in a manner that is comparable across countries. View the official press release.
12 New EarthTrends Data Sets
EarthTrends has added 12 new BOP data sets to our searchable database under the "Economics, Business and the Environment" research topic. Covering 36 developing countries, these new indicators show the relative size of the BOP, both in terms of population and income, as well as a detailed breakdown of household spending based on ten expenditure categories: food, housing, water, energy, household goods, health, transportation, information and communication technology, education, and other. The aim of these data is to generate poverty-specific purchasing power parities that take into account the unique spending patterns of the poor. View the 12 new BOP data sets.
Household Expenditures by Category, Brazil and India (2005)
ICT = information and communication technology
Source: EarthTrends, 2007 using data from The Next 4 Billion: Market Size and Business Strategy at the Base of the Pyramid
Viewing the Complete Data Sets at the Next 4 Billion
The new BOP data available on EarthTrends reflect the average income and expenditure of all people earning less than $3,000 annually in a given country. However, the report's full analysis, available on-line at the Next 4 Billion website, segregates the BOP population into six income brackets using $500 intervals. This unabridged version of the data provides a fascinating portrait of the unique spending patterns occurring within different income subgroups of the BOP while allowing for detailed comparisons within and between countries.
RELATED LINKS:
Next 4 Billion website at the IFC
