What is know, based on official poverty data, about spatial poverty profiles (regional, provincial, or rural vs. urban) as well as poverty changes in recent years, is not quiet robust. The main problem is that the official practice for poverty comparison is somewhat inconsistent. This paper is proposes a practical approach to measuring the poverty spatial/subgroup comparison, as well as for performance monitoring of efforts to reduce absolute poverty. The approach is employed to construct new poverty profiles based on nationwide household surveys covering the late 1990s. The paper also examines how initial living standards and socioeconomic characteristics have influenced household responses to the Asian economic crisis.
