Santo Domingo.- The incidence of poverty in Dominican Republic fell from 49.4% in 2004 to 39.9% during 2010-2011, compared with the around 34% under the previous method of IDB-World Bank and 41.4% with the system of the Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean ECLAC, according to a new methodology disclosed in the National Palace Tuesday night.

The investigation found that 9% of the population is under abject poverty, compared with 15.4% in 2004.

The official figures were part of the new methodology presented by the Economy Ministry, National Statistics Office (NSO), Central Bank, ECLAC and the World Bank last night, created by local agencies with international support, to establish Dominican Republic’s poverty rates.

Economy Minister Temistocles Montas said Dominican Republic didn’t have a set of uniform rules to measure poverty levels, which resulted in a number of figures which he affirms often confused the population. "This approach will allow a better design of policies to fight poverty."

For his part ONE director Pablo Tactuk said the new approach eliminates the multiplicity of figures in terms of the country’s poverty rate.