1. A pose estimating apparatus comprising: a basic skeleton estimating section that estimates a position of a distinctive part of a person in an acquired image; a likelihood map generating section that generates a likelihood map indicating the probability of presence of another part of the person, the probability being based on the position of the distinctive part of the person; and an evaluating section that evaluates, a candidate group of a plurality of 2D skeleton models, the plurality of 2D skeleton models each corresponding to a pose of the person based on the likelihood map, and comprising a group of lines representing the parts and a group of dots representing connections between the parts, wherein the likelihood map generating section limits a search range to be input to classifying sections, based on statistical data on positions of the distinctive part of the person, a front direction of the person, and human body dimension, and generates the likelihood map in the limited search range.