ISLAMABAD: Economic advances around the world mean that while fewer people live in extreme poverty, almost half the world’s population — 3.4 billion people — still struggles to meet basic needs, the World Bank said.
Living on less than $3.20 per day reflects poverty lines in lower-middle-income countries, while $5.50 a day reflects standards in upper-middle-income countries, the World Bank said in its biennial Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report, “Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle.”
The World Bank remains committed to achieving the goal of ending extreme poverty, defined as living on less than $1.90 a day, by 2030. The share of the world’s population living in extreme poverty fell to 10 per cent in 2015, but the pace of extreme poverty reduction has slowed, the Bank warned on September 19.
However, given that economic growth means that a much greater proportion of the world’s poor now live in wealthier countries, additional poverty lines and a broader understanding of poverty are crucial to fully fighting it, the report said.
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim said, “Ending extreme poverty by 2030 and boosting shared prosperity are our goals, and we remain committed to them. At the same time, we can take a broader view of poverty at different levels and dimensions around the world. This view reveals that poverty is more widespread and entrenched, underlining the importance of investing in people.”
While rates of extreme poverty have declined substantially, falling from 36 per cent in 1990, the report’s expanded examination of the nature of poverty demonstrates the magnitude of the challenge in eradicating it. Over 1.9 billion people, or 26.2 per cent of the world’s population, were living on less than $3.20 per day in 2015. Close to 46 per cent of the world’s population was living on less than $5.50 a day.