Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — The number of people living in “extreme poverty” around the world is likely to fall below 10 percent of the global population this year, World Bank projections reveal.
“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,’’ said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.
In a policy research note released on Sunday (October 4), the Bank predicted that global poverty will have dropped to 702 million — about 9.6 percent of the global population by 2015. In 2012, the figure stood at 902 million, or 9.6 percent of the global population during that same year.
The results came after it updated its international poverty line to $1.90 a day, from the previous $1.25 a day in 2005 prices. The bank preserved the real purchasing power of the previous line in the world’s poorest countries.
“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,” Kim said.
However, he pointed out that the goal “will be extraordinarily hard, especially in a period of slower global growth, volatile financial markets, conflicts, high youth unemployment, and the growing impact of climate change”.
“But it remains within our grasp, as long as our high aspirations are matched by country-led plans that help the still millions of people living in extreme poverty,” Kim added.
In April 2013 the Bank’s Board of Governors endorsed two goals: to end extreme poverty by 2030, and to boost shared prosperity by raising the incomes of the bottom 40 percent of populations.
The research note, however, said that progress “has been uneven and significant work remains,” despite “solid development gains.”
It identified three key challenges that stand out: The depth of remaining poverty, the unevenness in shared prosperity, and the persistent disparities in non-income dimensions of development.
Likewise, World Bank Chief Economist Kausik Basu warned of a possible slowdown for emerging economies: “Development has been robust over the last two decades but the protracted global slowdown since the financial crisis of 2008, is beginning to cast its shadow on emerging economies.”
““There is some turbulence ahead. The economic growth outlook is less impressive for emerging economies in the near future, which will create new challenges in the fight to end poverty and attend to the needs of the vulnerable, especially those living at the bottom 40 percent of their societies,” Basu added.
