The present paper serves as a technical preface to the forthcoming ESCWA-led world poverty report. The audience is mainly composed of experts and academics with an interest in income poverty measurement, especially cross-country comparisons. The world poverty report builds on the vast literature on global poverty measurement, particularly by the World Bank, but it also aims to fill an important knowledge gap regarding the levels and trends of income poverty according to definitions that are closer to national thresholds, yet are internationally and intertemporally comparable.