This means that 8 million fewer people were living in poverty and 3 million fewer were living in extreme poverty in 2011. The indigence line is updated each year on the basis of the variation in the food price index, whereas the non-food component of the poverty line is updated on the basis of the variation in prices for other goods. For the years from 2007 to 2009, that difference was the main reason why indigence rose at the region-wide level while pov erty declined. The poverty rate is likely to fall by at least one half of a percentage point, while the indigence rate is expected to hold more or less steady at its 2011 level.