Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay saw the largest declines in all three indices: at least 1.5% per year. While this is not a large value, it does represent a noticeable change. It is striking that Paraguay showed a significant drop in inequality according to the Gini coefficient and the Atkinson index (with an inequality aversion ratio of 0.5) but did not according to an index that assigns greater weight to the lower portion of the distribution. Nonetheless, the usual way of quantifying these deprivations is to equate poverty to the lack of economic resources because income is the means whereby most material needs can be met and inadequate income is closely associated with deprivations in other areas of well-being.