Forecast released by the World Bank on Oct. 4, 2015 demonstrates this year global poverty will be at 702 million people, which is only 9.6 percent of the global population.

Jim Yong Kim, World Bank Group President, at the Annual Meetings in Lima, Peru stated, “This is the best story in the world today – these projections show us that we are the first generation in human history that can end extreme poverty.”

The research brief, Ending Extreme Poverty and Sharing Prosperity: Progress and Policies, proves that the World Bank is making progress toward the two goals set in April 2013: to end extreme poverty by 2030 and boost shared prosperity by raising the incomes of the bottom 40 percent of the population.

The Bank updated the international poverty line to U.S. $1.90 per day from the previous 2005 statistic of U.S. $1.25 per day in order to reflect the increased cost of basic food, clothing and shelter needs of the poorest around the world.

Using the new global poverty line, the World Bank displayed the decrease in the impoverished population globally from 2012 to present: 902 million people or 12.8 percent of the global population to 702 million people or 9.6 percent of the global population in 2015.

In sub-Saharan African, poverty fell from 42.6 percent in 2012 to predicted 35.2 percent in 2015. Within those same three years, poverty in East Asia and the Pacific would fall from 7.2 percent to 4.1 percent. In South Asia, poverty is predicted to fall from 18.8 percent to 13.5 percent. And finally, in Latin America and the Caribbean poverty would decrease from 6.2 percent to 5.6 percent.

The sub-Saharan region now accounts for half of the global improvised population, whereas in 1990 half of the impoverished population was located in East Asia. According to the World Bank Group, the shift is the result of the prevalence of conflict in sub-Saharan Africa and the dependency on commodity exports.

“This new forecast of poverty falling into the single digits should give us new momentum and help us focus even more clearly on the most effective strategies to end extreme poverty,” added Kim.

– Marie Helene Ngom

Sources: World Bank 1, World Bank 2, The Manila Times
Photo: No Limit Learning