World Development Indicators 2013 - Open Knowledge Repository ...

Goal 1 Eradicate extreme povertyPoverty ratescontinue to fallPeople living on less than 2005 PPP $1.25 a day (%)755025Latin America& Caribbean01990Share of countries making progress toward reducing poverty (%)10050Fewer people are livingin extreme povertyPeople living on less than 2005 PPP $1.25 a day (billions)2.01.51.00.5050100Middle East & North AfricaEast AsiaSouth Asia1995Sub-Saharan Africa0.01990 1995Europe& CentralAsiaEurope & Central AsiaMiddle East & North Africa2000Source: World Bank PovcalNet.Source: World Bank PovcalNet.Europe &Central AsiaProgress in reaching thepoverty target, 1990–2010Reached target On track Off track Seriously off trackLatinAmerica &CaribbeanSource: World Bank staff calculations.20002005Middle East& NorthAfricaLatin America& Caribbean2005Sub-Saharan AfricaSouth Asia2010estimateSouthAsia2010estimateForecast2010–15Sub-SaharanAfricaForecast2010–151a2015forecast1b1c2015forecastThe world will not have eradicated extreme povertyin 2015, but the Millennium DevelopmentGoal target of halving world poverty will havebeen met. The proportion of people living on lessthan $1.25 a day fell from 43.1 percent in 1990to 22.7 percent in 2008, reaching new lows inall six developing country regions. While thefood, fuel, and financial crises over the past fiveyears worsened the situation of vulnerable populationsand slowed poverty reduction in somecountries, global poverty rates continued to fallin most regions. Preliminary estimates for 2010confirm that the extreme poverty rate fell further,to 20.6 percent, reaching the global targetfive years early. Except in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa the target has also been met atthe regional level (figure 1a).Further progress is possible and likelybefore the 2015 target date of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals. Developing economiesare expected to maintain GDP growth of6.6–6.8 percent over the next three years, withgrowth of GDP per capita around 5.5 percent.Growth will be fastest in East Asia and Pacificand South Asia, which still contain more thanhalf the world’s poorest people. Growth willbe slower in Sub- Saharan Africa, the poorestregion in the world, but faster than in the precedingyears, quickening the pace of povertyreduction. According to these forecasts, theproportion of people living in extreme povertywill fall to 16 percent by 2015. Based on currenttrends, 59 of 112 economies with adequatedata are likely to achieve the first MillenniumDevelopment Goal (figure 1b). The numberof people living in extreme poverty will continueto fall to less than a billion in 2015 (figure 1c).Of these, 40 percent will live in South Asia and40 percent in Sub- Saharan Africa.How fast poverty reduction will proceeddepends not just on the growth of GDP butalso on its distribution. Income distribution hasimproved in some countries, such as Brazil, while2 World Development Indicators 2013 Front ? User guide World view People Environment