A new World Bank report indicates that poverty levels have decreased to an all-time low, with only 10 per cent of the world’s population living below $1.90 a day by 2015 down from 11 per cent in 2013. Indicating a 68 million drop from 804 Million people to 738 Million.
However despite the number reducing worldwide, the number of people living below $1.90 in Sub- Saharan Africa has risen from 405.1 Million people in 2013 to 413.3 Million people in 2015.
According to the World Bank, poverty is likely to increase due to institutional fragility and conflict, and the majority who form up to 54 per cent of those living in abject poverty were living in fragile and conflict settings (FCS) in 2015 mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
‘’ In 2015, the poverty rate in 35 FCS countries was 35.9 percent, up from a low of 34.4 percent in 2011. The share of the global poor in FCS countries has risen steadily since 2010. In 2015, 23 percent of all poor people lived in FCS countries,’’ the report says.
World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, on his part says that, for poverty to be eradicated by 2030 more investments need to be made, particularly in building human capital, to help promote the inclusive growth it will take to reach the remaining poor.
The data also shows that East Asia and Pacific, Europe and Central Asia, have reduced extreme poverty to below 3 percent while the Middle East and North Africa region had previously been below 3 percent in 2013. However conflict in Syria and Yemen raised its poverty rate in 2015.
The World Bank’s preliminary forecast is that extreme poverty has declined to 8.6 percent in 2018.
