Sala-i-Martin's summary assesses world poverty and income inequality using a new measurement tool that estimates the distribution of income among individuals in 138 countries between 1970 and 2000. After reviewing past research on poverty and inequality, the study presents the World Distribution of Income (WDI) in order to analyze global trends in poverty and inequality. The results show that despite the growing income gap between rich and poor countries, world poverty and income inequality fell markedly between 1970 and 2000.