The successful groups have managed to reduce headcount poverty rates from over 80% in the 1980s to close to 44% in 2007, while for the lagging countries, the total poverty rate has remained at well over 70% throughout the period. Both the headcount ratio and the number of the poor in this group of countries were declining over this period. Their share increased from about 13% to 18% of the total population between the early 1980s and 2007, while the percentage of their population living below $2 a day increased from about 16% to over 30%.