A team of researchers and poverty experts at SMU said that it is time Singapore joined other developed nations in officially defining and measuring poverty. Doing so could lead to greater public support for efforts to help vulnerable communities, they said in a paper from the Lien Centre for Social Innovation. SMU Associate Professor of Political Science John Donaldson, one of the key collaborators on the paper, said: “Many Singaporeans may not be aware of the scale and depth of poverty in Singapore. We hope our research can help people to understand the nature of the problem, its causes and possible solutions." The paper, to be officially released next month, reviews the limited local research conducted here and discusses the merits and drawbacks of various global poverty measures.