The number of people living in extreme poverty is expected to fall below 10 percent of the global population before the end of this year, according to the World Bank, this will mark one step closer to the goal of ending poverty by 2030 – an objective which was adopted among 193 countries at the United Nations in August.
As global nations continues on their fast track of economic progress, extreme poverty will cease to exist in the next 15 years.
“This is the best story in the world today,” said Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group president, in a statement. “This new forecast ... should give us new momentum and help us focus even more clearly on the most effective strategies to end extreme poverty.”
The newest definition of poverty is said to be those living on $1.90 or less per day (up 65 cents from the 2005 standard). The World Bank says that 702 million people will be living in extreme poverty in 2015 – which is 9.6 percent of the worldwide population. In 2012, the number was 908 million people, or 12.8 percent of the population. The findings indicate two different milestones, says Homi Kharas, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
“First, it conveys the progress that has been made in the last 15 years since the Millennium Development Goals were set,” Mr. Kharas says, referring to the UN program. “And second, it says that we’re now at a level ... that’s low enough to actually end poverty.”
The factors contributing to the alleviation of poverty include investment in education and health, strong growth rates among developing nations, and the development of social safety nets that prevent people from regressing into poverty, the World Bank found.
Access to education and health care, allows for sustainable income. And when farmers are literate, “they become more productive,” he says. “They can read instructions for new technologies, and they can open bank accounts because they understand numbers.”
Via: csmonitor