Note from the authors This paper has grown out of previous independent work by the authors on the same subject, and represents a liberate effort to arrive at a common set of benchmark estimates of poverty in Lao PDR during the 90's. The need for such a benchmark arose in the context of the National Statistical Center (NSC) initiative on monitoring poverty in the country. Several persons have contributed to the development of the paper. From NSC we are grateful to Phetsamone Sone and Onkeo Ounalom for their generous support and on a range of data issues. We would also like to thank Zafar Ahmed and Linda Schneider from the World Bank and for their support at a various stages of work. We have benefited from the comments of Richard Newfarmer, Olivier Lambert, Kaspar Richter and especially Dominique Van de Walle.