UPF Inverno 2013

Global poverty is falling, so what\'s the problem?

By Global Public Square staff

Watching countries from around the world grow and

prosper, we tend to assume that global poverty is falling.

And in fact, the World Bank says that in 1981 nearly half of

the world\'s citizens were impoverished, that is, they lived

on less than $1.25 a day. And today, less than a fifth of the

world\'s population lives in poverty. In raw numbers, that

translates to a 40 percent drop from about 2 billion to 1.2

billion people.

But when we dig deeper, it‟s clear the picture is more

murky. Put simply, most of the reduction in global poverty

has to do with one country – China. Take it out of the

equation and the numbers look very different. Let\'s go

back to 1981. Back then, China accounted for 43 percent

of the world\'s poor. The other major contributors were

South Asia, with 29 percent, and sub-Saharan Africa, with

11 percent. Fast forward just a decade, and you\'ll see that

China\'s share of the world\'s poor began to drop. The trend

continues through the 2000s. By 2010, China accounted

for only 13 percent of the world\'s impoverished population.

South Asia\'s share had jumped to 42 percent, while sub-

Saharan Africa\'s share tripled, to 34 percent.

The World Bank data shows that the total number of

impoverished Chinese declined by nearly 680 million

people in the last three decades. That\'s about 95 percent

of the total global decline. By registering double digit

growth for three decades, Beijing has transformed the

fortunes of a poor nation within a generation. That\'s

amazing, but it tells you that in the rest of the world,

progress has been much, much slower – if there\'s been

progress at all.

(Retrieved and adapted from http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/05/01/globalpoverty- is-falling-so-whats-the-problem/?hpt=hp_bn2. Access on May 01st, 2013)