At 71%, the vast majority of the world’s population remained either poor or low income in 2011 and while the global middle class almost doubled from 7% in 2001 to 13% in the decade to 2011, when compared with the Western standard both the number and level of income are not as high as previously thought. The Washington DC-based Pew Research Center in a recent report said that nearly 700m people emerged from poverty between 2001 and 2011— however, most only barely, with many continuing to live a “low-income existence.”