A report published by the World Bank on Wednesday revealed that global poverty level is at a historic low. According to the report, only 10 percent of the world's population lived on a daily budget of less than $1.90. This is a big drop when compared to previous data which revealed 11.2 percent of the population are on that same level.
The data used by the World Bank was in 2015. It showed that 735.9 million people are below the agreed poverty threshold during that year. This figure is down by 68.3 million from the 2013 figure of 804.2 million.
Despite this interesting improvements, the World Bank is still unimpressed by the overall rate of global poverty reduction. The institution said that poverty reduction over the past few years has significantly slowed. The World Bank added that should this trend continue, it will jeopardize its goal of reducing global poverty rate to just 3 percent come 2030.
According to the latest World Bank data, poverty dropped in every region expect that of North Africa and the Middle East. Analysts have agreed that this is because of rising tensions in those two regions, particularly in Syria and Yemen. These two countries also reached a 5 percent poverty in 2015 from just 2.6 percent in 2013. This figure translates to more than 18.6 million people under the poverty threshold.
A breakdown of the World Bank data reveals that poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa fell to 41.1 percent from 42.5 percent. In South Asia, poverty dropped from 16.2 percent to 12.4 percent. In Latin American and Caribbean, poverty dropped from 4.6 percent to 4.1 percent. In East Asia and the Pacific, the poverty rate dropped from 3.6 percent to 2.3 percent. In Central Asia and Europe, the poverty rate dropped from 1.6 percent to 1.5 percent.
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement that more than one billion people were lifted out of the poverty threshold in the last 25 years.
It was noted that majority of the reduction in global poverty over several decades has been mainly concentrated in China and its neighboring countries. Many observers have noted that China's economic boom has not only helped the countries domestic economy but also that of its neighboring countries.
It is also important to note that South American countries like Chile and Brazil have contributed to the overall decrease in global poverty. The two countries have been pushing economic reforms and improved social services in order to lift its citizens from abject poverty.
The recently published World Bank report is entitled "Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018: Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle."
