While poverty ratios for larger states in the country have attracted adequate attention, those for the smaller states and union territories are truly bizarre. The Economic Survey 2001-2001 illustrates why this is so in the footnotes at the end of its table on state-level poverty ratios. Assam's poverty ratio is used for Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura. This is done separately for the rural and urban distribution of population varies, the overall poverty ratio for these states naturally varies from the Assam figure. (Editorial)