The improvements in distribution took place in a context of rising average income for virtually all population groups. It is this distribution trend that brought the poverty rate down by more than would have been achieved with higher average income alone, both in recent years (see chapter I for growth and distribution effects) and over the past 10 years (see ECLAC, 2011). In some countries (especially those w'here inequality decreased the most) income for the wealthiest households fell in real terms.