So what do we learn from the data so far:

🗹 The poverty rates have declined all regions of the world, the progress has been anything but even — while there were several countries with poverty rates of 0%, it is a huge issue in other countries like Somalia, DPR Korea, Burundi & Central African Republic, where a majority of the population (>70%) was living in extreme poverty.

🗹 The United States’ poverty rate has fallen for the fourth consecutive year to a low of 0.97% but many believe that the current metrics for measuring the poverty in the World’s largest economy are misleading, as it understates the extent of economic deprivation in the country.

🗹 Although about half of the world’s countries are reported poverty rates below 3%. Despite making significant progress towards the reduction of extreme poverty, the rates are still unacceptably high, especially in low-income countries. With the global growth forecasts set to slow even further, it seems the goal of eradicating the menace of extreme poverty by 2030 won’t be materialized.

🗹 Having said that there are some bright spots as well — regions like East Asia & Pacific (47 million extreme poor) and Europe & Central Asia (7 million) have already reached their 2030 target of below 3%.

🗹 And then there’s Sub-Saharan Africa — where the number of extreme poor has actually increased by 9 million. In total, 413 million of this region are living on less than US$1.90 a day, which is more than all the other regions combined. It is estimated that by 2030, 9 out of 10 extremely poor will be the residents of Sub-Saharan Africa.

🗹 There have been two massive success stories regarding the reduction of extreme poverty in the World — China & India. China’s story has been nothing less than an economic miracle lifting more than 800 million out of poverty in the past 4 decades. India’s runaway economic growth in the past decade has also lifted 271 million of its population from extreme poverty.

🗹 Summarizing, the majority of the extremely poor of the World live in rural areas, are poorly educated, employed in the agricultural sector, and under 18 years of age.

Many challenges remain as the ongoing trade war slows economic growth globally, making it even more difficult to reach people living in remote regions of fragile economies for whom basic necessities like schools, health care, electricity, safe water remain elusive.

A global concerted effort is required to treat the menace of extreme poverty. Until then, it remains a broad & entrenched problem.