Fewer people live in extreme poverty than ever before — only ten percent of the world’s population according to the World Bank. Over a billion people have broken through the barrier of extreme poverty in the past 25 years.

That’s incredible progress. But it is slowing down. As the number of people living on less tha $1.90 a day is decreasing in most countries, it is increasing across sub-Saharan Africa.

There is a lot of progress to celebrate in the fight to end extreme poverty but we must also acknowledge the present and future challenges we face.

In the new Goalkeepers 2018 report, Bill and Melinda Gates predict that because the poorest countries are also the fastest growing, by 2050 almost all people living in extreme poverty will be located in very concentrated areas in the sub-Saharan African region; and more than 40 percent will be living in just two countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.