<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Published April 24, 2010
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>World Bank sees long-lasting impact of downturn on poor
Many of the UN's development goals unlikely to be met: report
By ANTHONY ROWLEY
IN TOKYO
ECONOMIC recovery is accelerating in advanced and emerging nations, but the impact of the global downturn on the world's poor will be long-lasting, and many of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are unlikely to be met, the World Bank says in a report published yesterday.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>MARGINAL IMPROVEMENT
The number of extreme poor in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to decline to 366m by 2015 from 387m in 2005</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>As a result of the crisis, 53 million more people will remain in a state of extreme poverty by 2015 than would otherwise have been the case, according to the World Bank. Even so, the number of 'extremely poor' - those living on less than US$1.25 a day - should fall to 920 million within five years from now, or half the number in 1990.
China, in particular, is making dramatic progress in reducing poverty, with its number of extremely poor people having fallen from 683 million in 1990 to 208 million in 2005 and expected to tumble to 70 million by 2015, the report says.
For East Asia and the Pacific region as a whole, the numbers of extremely poor are forecast to fall to 120 million in five years from now, compared with 873 million in 1990.
In contrast, South Asia, including India, will remain the region where most of the world's poverty is concentrated, the World Bank suggests.
At 456 million in 2005, India's number of extreme poor was higher than in 1990, although progress with poverty reduction is accelerating now and by 2015 this number should have fallen to 295 million.
For South Asia as a whole, the number of extreme poor should drop to 388 million by 2015 from 595 million in 2005, but that will still be ahead of the number of extreme poor in Sub-Saharan Africa which is expected to decline to 366 million by 2015 from 387 million in 2005.
Thanks largely to progress in Asia - East Asia especially - 'the developing world as a whole is still on track to achieve the first MDG of halving extreme income poverty from its 1990 level of 42 per cent by 2015', the World Bank says.
The poor have been hit hard by successive crises - the food price crisis that struck in 2008 and the global economic shock towards the end of that year, the bank says in its Global Monitoring Report 2010: The MDGs after the Crisis.
As a result, 'the critical MDG target of halving the proportion of the people suffering from hunger between 1990 and 2015 appears very unlikely to met as over one billion people struggle to meet basic food needs', it notes.
'The crisis is having an impact in several key areas, including those related to hunger, child and maternal health, gender equality, access to clean water, and disease control and will continue to affect long-term development prospects well beyond 2015.'
Government spending on social safety nets appears to have remained relatively steady throughout the global economic shock and 'massive efforts by the international community to limit economic contraction and contagion have paid off'.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>World Bank sees long-lasting impact of downturn on poor
Many of the UN's development goals unlikely to be met: report
By ANTHONY ROWLEY
IN TOKYO
ECONOMIC recovery is accelerating in advanced and emerging nations, but the impact of the global downturn on the world's poor will be long-lasting, and many of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are unlikely to be met, the World Bank says in a report published yesterday.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>MARGINAL IMPROVEMENTThe number of extreme poor in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to decline to 366m by 2015 from 387m in 2005</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>As a result of the crisis, 53 million more people will remain in a state of extreme poverty by 2015 than would otherwise have been the case, according to the World Bank. Even so, the number of 'extremely poor' - those living on less than US$1.25 a day - should fall to 920 million within five years from now, or half the number in 1990.
China, in particular, is making dramatic progress in reducing poverty, with its number of extremely poor people having fallen from 683 million in 1990 to 208 million in 2005 and expected to tumble to 70 million by 2015, the report says.
For East Asia and the Pacific region as a whole, the numbers of extremely poor are forecast to fall to 120 million in five years from now, compared with 873 million in 1990.
In contrast, South Asia, including India, will remain the region where most of the world's poverty is concentrated, the World Bank suggests.
At 456 million in 2005, India's number of extreme poor was higher than in 1990, although progress with poverty reduction is accelerating now and by 2015 this number should have fallen to 295 million.
For South Asia as a whole, the number of extreme poor should drop to 388 million by 2015 from 595 million in 2005, but that will still be ahead of the number of extreme poor in Sub-Saharan Africa which is expected to decline to 366 million by 2015 from 387 million in 2005.
Thanks largely to progress in Asia - East Asia especially - 'the developing world as a whole is still on track to achieve the first MDG of halving extreme income poverty from its 1990 level of 42 per cent by 2015', the World Bank says.
The poor have been hit hard by successive crises - the food price crisis that struck in 2008 and the global economic shock towards the end of that year, the bank says in its Global Monitoring Report 2010: The MDGs after the Crisis.
As a result, 'the critical MDG target of halving the proportion of the people suffering from hunger between 1990 and 2015 appears very unlikely to met as over one billion people struggle to meet basic food needs', it notes.
'The crisis is having an impact in several key areas, including those related to hunger, child and maternal health, gender equality, access to clean water, and disease control and will continue to affect long-term development prospects well beyond 2015.'
Government spending on social safety nets appears to have remained relatively steady throughout the global economic shock and 'massive efforts by the international community to limit economic contraction and contagion have paid off'.
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