Has poverty improved or gotten worse worldwide?  I would like
statistics on both a global and regional level, as well as a 20th
century and 1980-2000 year trend.

I am posting this as a comment as I do not have all the data (20th
century and 1980-2000 trends)

According The World Bank, since 1987, worldwide poverty has been
dropping:

1987 28.69% of the population was living in poverty
1990 29.32%
1993 28.50%
1996 24.86%
1998 24.27%
Source:
Global Poverty Monitoring
http://www.worldbank.org/research/povmonitor/index.htm

Of the 6.2 billion people in the world, 1.2 billion of them live on
less than $1.00 per day.  While this number is staggering, over the
last 10 years, the proportion of people living at this level has
dropped from 29% to 23%.  The proportions have dropped even higher in
specific regions, especially East Asia (28 to 14) and South Asia (44
to 27).  However, other regions, such as Africa (48 to 47) have not
shown such a rapid change.

You can see regional information by visiting
http://www.worldbank.org/research/povmonitor/index.htm and scrolling
down to the bottom of the page.  There you will be able to choose a
region and get more detailed information (including some country
specific info) on poverty levels.


References:
Global Poverty Monitoring
http://www.worldbank.org/research/povmonitor/index.htm

The Poverty Monitoring Database
http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/data/povmon.htm

International Facts on Hunger and Poverty
http://www.bread.org/hungerbasics/international.html


If this will suffice as a complete answer, please let me know.

Regards,

-THV

In the UK, from 1970 until today, there has been little change or
possibly an increase in poverty levels. Details can be found in the
answer to this question:
http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=28365

Of course, poverty is a relative concept, and what is seen as poverty
in a developed country such as the UK would be riches to many in other
parts of the world.