Total household income of $5 trillion a year establishes the BOP as a potentially important global market. Within that market are large variations across regions, countries, and sectors in size and other characteristics.

• Asia (including the Middle East) has by far the largest BOP market: 2.86 billion people with income of $3.47 trillion. This BOP market represents 83% of the region’s population and 42% of the purchasing power—a significant share of Asia’s rapidly growing consumer market.

• Eastern Europe’s $458 billion BOP market includes 254 million people, 64% of the region’s population, with 36% of the income.

• In Latin America the BOP market of $509 billion includes 360 million people, representing 70% of the region’s population but only 28% of total household income, a smaller share than in other developing regions.

• Africa has a slightly smaller BOP market, at $429 billion. But the BOP is by far the region’s dominant consumer market, with 71% of purchasing power. It includes 486 million people—95% of the surveyed population.

Sector markets for the 4 billion BOP consumers range widely in size. Some are relatively small, such as water ($20 billion) and information and communication technology, or ICT ($51 billion as measured, but probably twice that now as a result of rapid growth). Some are medium scale, such as health ($158 billion), transportation ($179 billion), housing ($332 billion), and energy ($433 billion). And some are truly large, such as food ($2,895 billion).[3]

Evidence of BOP penalties emerges in several sectors. Wealthier mid-market households are seven times as likely as BOP households to have access to piped water. Some 24% of BOP households lack access to electricity, while only 1% of mid-market households do. Rural BOP households have significantly lower ICT spending and are significantly less likely to own a phone than rural mid-market households or even urban BOP households—consistent with the broad lack of access to ICT services in rural areas.