According to a new study released by the United Nations, global poverty has seen drastic decreased in recent times, and “up to 80 percent of the world’s middle class will live in developing countries by 2030.”

Calling the rapid reduction in poverty an “epochal global rebalancing,” the UN says that rising incomes and economic development have engendered a rising middle class and have lifted hundreds of millions of people out of severe poverty, citing that at least 40 developing countries with growing economies have contributed to these latest figures.

Helen Clarke, the UN’s Development Program Administrator, said that these countries created fast economic growth by accepting foreign investment and focusing on improving infrastructure and increased education for their citizens.

Also cited as a reason for improved well-being was the GDP boom that occurred in India, China, and Brazil, where China and India managed to double output within the last 20 years.

The study, using the Human Development Index (HDI) as a measurement, also acknowledged other developing countries as having greatly improved individual well-being, with Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Angola “among 14 countries that have recorded gains in HDI of more than 2 percent a year since 2000.”

The UN found that global poverty has nearly decreased in half since 1990 when it was recorded at 43 percent. In 2008, global poverty was recorded at just 22 percent. The study highlighted that within this time period, 500 million people in China alone rose out of extreme poverty.

The report found that the largest factor in the reduction of poverty in recent years as global trade, which grew by 22 percent since 1980, which contributes to greater and more rapid economic growth.

– Christina Kindlon

Source: Financial Times
Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark