The figures for poverty that have been produced for both Ghana and Tanzania have been the subject
of both political and academic controversy. In this paper we review the evidence for both countries.
The official reports show very different rates of success in poverty reduction across the countries. In
Ghana over the period from 1991 to 2005 the headcount poverty rate halved while in Tanzania it
scarcely changed. The macro data for both countries show virtually identical growth rates from the
1980s and very similar per capita income levels. In this paper we use the consumption and income
data from the household surveys to present a direct comparison of both the levels and growth rates of
consumption and income across the two countries. We find that consumption levels in Tanzania are
approximately half those in Ghana. The consumption growth rates in the two countries up to 2000 are
similar but that that after 2000 the growth rate of both consumption and income in Ghana accelerated
rather dramatically. We investigate how far these different growth rates can be accounted for by
urbanisation, changes in household size and education and find very modest effects. The most
important drivers of growth appear to be macro factors not those that are specific to the household.