Report : World Social Situation 2009

This report notes that although considerable progress has been made in reducing levels of absolute poverty, overall, the world is not on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals of halving levels of extreme poverty by 2015. According to the World Bank, the proportion of people living on less than $1.25 a day in developing countries declined from 1.9 billion to 1.4 billion between 1981 and 2005 at 2005 purchasing power parity. Improvements in overall poverty levels have depended, to a large extent, on growth. Countries or regions that have experienced strong growth during the last two decades have managed to reduce poverty levels, particularly in urban areas. This includes countries such as China and India. It is the success of these countries that has largely driven global poverty trends downward. However, not every region or country has recorded such remarkable progress. The absolute number of poor people has gone up in several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa, as well as in Central Asia.

(Source:UN,2009) (via Zunia.org)

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