Ending Extreme Poverty in the World Is it Possible

Ending Extreme Poverty

To read the reports and the projections of The World Bank, it would seem that it is possible to end extreme poverty in the world by 2030. How realistic is that goal? It is not possible to know for sure if that goal is achievable, but when the facts of how many people live in terrible, depressing poverty, credit has to be given to The World Bank for trying. This paper presents the facts and projections of The World Bank and of the United Nations as well.

The World Bank's Plan

In a press release issued in April, 2014, The World Bank expressed the notion that countries cannot expect to reduce grinding poverty amongst their citizens simply by expanding economic growth. The right way to reduce extreme poverty is to " ... complement efforts to enhance growth" with programs that allocate more resources to the extreme poor" (TWB 2014). Moreover, the press release statement continued, countries must also make certain that "... in the long run" the poor must not find themselves stuck " ... just above the poverty line" because they had no opportunities to rise higher.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim is quoted saying that economic growth must be "more inclusive" and programs must be targeted such as "direct cash transfers" and other government assistance (TWB 2014). The World Bank's Senior Vice President Kaushik Basu remarked in the press release that it is " ... a sad commentary on our prosperous world that over one billion people live in extreme poverty ... " (TWB 2014).

How Much Progress Has Been Made?

According to The World Bank website, in 1990, 36% of the world's population lived in extreme poverty; in 2000 that number fell to 28%; and in 2010 the number was 18% (TWB, 2013). The prediction -- based on how the data has dropped from year to year -- is that by 2020 only 9% of the world's people will suffer the indignity of extreme poverty (TWB).

The Moral Imperative

A collaborative effort between The World Bank, The United Nations, and a "broad coalition of faith-based and religious organizations" convened at the United Nations in early October to solidify a "framework" -- that was organized around "three pillars (Taylor 2015). Those three pillars include: a) "strengthening the evidence base" around the contribution of religious and faith organizations to end extreme poverty; b) taking part in "advocacy efforts" that are designed to keep pressure on governments and others to implement the "Sustainable Development Goals" (SDG); and c) to develop "effective collaboration" between The World Bank, the UN, religious organizations and government to end extreme poverty (Taylor p. 2).

UN Millennium Goals

The UN has slightly different data than The World Bank has; in their target listed to cut in half (by 2015) the number of people whose incomes are less than $1.25 a day, the UN says that "More than a billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty since 1990" (UN 2015). The UN asserts that more than 800 million people around the world continue living in extreme poverty; The World Bank's figure is one billion, 200 million more than the UN, but it is clearly difficult to be exact in terms of counting people in abject poverty.

In another FACT SHEET the UN reports that southeastern Asia is "the first developing region to reach the hunger reduction target ahead of 2015; the proportion of "undernourished people" in that region dropped from 26.9% in 1990-92 to10.9% in 2010-2013 (UN).