Number of poor rises in developing regions

FE Team | Published: September 13, 2008 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Harvey Morris at the United Nations
FT Syndication Service
Despite almost a decade of intensified international efforts to improve the lives of the world's most disadvantaged, the number of those living in extreme poverty is on the rise in the poorest regions, the United Nations said in a report published last Thursday.
The report sets the framework for a summit of up to 100 heads of state and government who will gather in New York this month to discuss if it is still possible to meet a series of ambitious targets set in 2000 for improving living standards in the developing world.
The challenge comes as donor countries face their own economic downturns, coupled with higher energy and food prices - which pose an even greater threat to livelihoods and stability in poorer developing countries.
The UN figures indicated extreme poverty had fallen in percentage global terms and that the target of halving it by 2015 was still within reach. However, progress had been uneven. Most of the improvement came in Asia where Chinese economic expansion lifted 475m people above a poverty line of $1.25 a day between 1990 and 2005.
In most other developing regions, however, the number of poor was rising among expanding populations. In sub-Saharan Africa, those living below the poverty line increased by 100m in the same period. "The depth of poverty in this region is lower than anywhere else, with an average daily consumption of 70 cents per day," the report said.
In its mid-term progress report on the millennium development goals (MDGs) established in 2000 and set to be fulfilled by 2015, the UN said significant advances had been made towards meeting many of the targets. In all but two regions primary school enrolment now topped 90 per cent; measles, Aids and tuberculosis deaths were falling worldwide; more people had access to safe drinking water; and developing countries had halved the amount they spent on servicing their foreign debt.
However, the report also listed the persistence of child malnutrition, with a quarter of all children in the developing world underweight; job insecurity among two-thirds of women in developing countries, where more than 500,000 die annually in childbirth or of complications from pregnancy; and the persistence of slums that house a third of developing countries' growing urban population.
The UN has already warned that current levels of foreign aid are insufficient to meet these and other challenges and that there is a funding gap of more than $30bn (euro 21.5bn, £17.1bn) in pledges made by the richest countries. The summit coincides with the opening of the next session of the UN General Assembly and will bring together heads of both developed and developing states.
AFP adds: Unveiling the report, UN chief Ban Ki-moon noted that poverty reduction goals agreed by world leaders eight years ago may not be met by the 2015 target date, particularly in Africa.
The UN's Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) Report 2008 was released ahead of a summit meeting on the MDGs scheduled for September 25 on the margins of the UN General Assembly session.
It noted that improved data from the World Bank confirmed that between 1990 and 2005, the number of people living in extreme poverty dropped from 1.8 to 1.4 billion and that the 1990 global poverty rate was likely to be halved by 2015.
"But while most of this decline occurred in East Asia, particularly China, other regions had much smaller decreases in the poverty rate and only modest falls in the number of poor," it said.
"Sub-Saharan Africa and the former Soviet republics actually saw the number of poor increase between 1990 and 2005."
The September 25 gathering, which will be held three days after a high- level meeting here focused on Africa's development, will be the first summit on the MDGs since 2000.
Ban told a press conference that 150 countries, including more than 90 heads of state or government, would be represented at the two gatherings, which he said were aimed at working "more for the poorest of the poor, the bottom billion trapped in poverty."
Turning to the MDGs, the UN secretary general told a press conference that "despite the challenges, there are enough successes to prove that most of the poor are reachable in most countries."
"We must really galvanise political will and mobilise necessary resources," he added. "I expect all participants (at the upcoming meetings) to announce specific initiatives or commitments and lay out plans to realise them."
In 2000, world leaders gathered at a UN summit here agreed on eight development goals to be implemented by all countries by 2015, including halving the proportion of people living below the poverty line -- now set at 1.25 dollar a day -- between 1990 and 2015.
Other MDGs focus on achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, combating diseases such as HIV/AIDS, ensuring environmental sustainability and creating global partnerships for development.
Last week, Ban lamented a shortfall of 10 billion dollars (seven billion euros) in donors' commitments, with total net aid from OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries amounting to only 0.28 per cent of their combined Gross National Income, as opposed to the UN target of 0.7 per cent.
He said that if a 2010 target set by leading industrialised nations in 2005 was to be met, development aid would have to rise 18 billion dollars a year, including 7.3 billion dollars earmarked for Africa.
The report did highlight a number of successes:
l The overarching goal of reducing absolute poverty by half is within reach for the world as a whole. . The number of deaths from AIDS fell from 2.2 million in 2005 to two million in 2007, and the number of people newly infected declined from three million in 2001 to 2.7 million in 2007.
l Some 1.6 billion people have gained access to safe drinking water since 1990.
l The private sector has boosted the availability of some critical essential drugs and rapidly spread mobile technology throughout the developing world.
But the study warned that an array of goals are likely to be missed unless action is taken to remedy some setbacks:
l Some 2.5 billion people, almost half of the developing world's population, live without improved sanitation.
l About one quarter of all children in developing countries are considered to be underweight and risk a future blighted by the long-term effects of undernourishment.
l Rich countries' foreign aid spending dropped for the second consecutive year in 2007 and risks falling short of the commitments made in 2005.
International trade talks are years behind schedule and any outcome seems likely to fall far short of the initial high hopes for a development-oriented outcome.