'This Is the Best Story in the World Today': End of Extreme Poverty Is in Sight David McNair - TakePart
go to original October 9, 2015

The end of extreme poverty | Alex Thier | TEDxFoggyBottom (TEDx Talks)

For the first time since it began measuring it more than 25 years ago, the World Bank announced that extreme global poverty, newly defined as living on less than $1.90 a day, is expected to dip below 10 percent in 2015.

“This is the best story in the world today - these projections show us that we are the first generation in human history that can end extreme poverty,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim in a recent statement. “This new forecast of poverty falling into the single digits should give us new momentum and help us focus even more clearly on the most effective strategies to end extreme poverty.”

Since 2005, extreme poverty has been defined by the World Bank as living on less than $1.25 a day, but the revised $1.90 figure, say researchers, reflects a general decrease in the U.S. dollar’s purchasing power relative to the currencies of most developing countries. Basically, $1.90 buys today what $1.25 bought in 2005. Based on the new measure, the World Bank estimates that extreme poverty around the world will fall from 12.8 percent, or approximately 902 million people, in 2012, to 9.6 percent, or 702 million people, by the end of this year.

In September, the United Nations adopted the global goal of wiping out extreme poverty by 2030, which Kim admitted will not be easy.

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Related: 7 Reasons to Feel Good About the World, Thanks to the Recent U.N. Summit (TakePart)

Photo: Nadeem Khawar/Getty Images

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