The world is still on track to lower poverty rates significantly despite setbacks from recent economic, food and energy crises, but progress has been uneven, the UN said on Thursday.
The overall poverty rate is expected to fall below 15 percent — well below the 23 percent target set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — by 2015, fulfilling the target of the first MDG of halving the proportion of people living on less than US$1 day between 1990 and 2015.
The gains come despite the economic and financial crisis of 2008 that began in the US and Europe.
That the world remains on track is because of the momentum of growth in the developing world. In absolute numbers, the number of people in developing countries in extreme poverty (living on less than US$1.25 a day) is projected to fall below 900 million, according the UN’s annual report card of regional progress toward the eight MDGs.
East Asia continues to record the sharpest reduction in poverty, particularly in China and India, where the number of people living in extreme poverty in both countries fell by about 455 million between 1990 and 2005, and where 320 million more people are expected to join their ranks by 2015.
The UN MDG report said projections for sub-Saharan Africa are slightly more upbeat than previously estimated, and the extreme poverty rate in the region is expected to fall below 36 percent.
However, despite significant reductions in extreme poverty, the world will find it difficult to eradicate hunger, which is the aim of the first MDG.
The persistence of hunger is forcing policymakers to address problems such as access to food and high food prices. The Food and Agriculture Organization has been asked to undertake a comprehensive review to see what policies could lead to a reduction in the proportion of people going hungry, which has leveled out at 16 percent.
Sub-Saharan Africa chalked up the best record for improvement in primary school enrollment, but the world is far from achieving universal primary education, the second MDG. Burundi, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Togo and Tanzania are among the countries that have achieved, or are nearing the goal of universal primary education. The abolition of school fees has contributed to progress in many of these countries, the UN said.
To achieve universal primary education, children must complete a full cycle of primary schooling. Currently, 87 out of 100 children in poor countries complete primary education.
On gender equality and the empowerment of women, the report said girls are gaining ground in education, though unequal access persists in many regions. About 96 girls were enrolled in primary and secondary schools for every 100 boys in 2009, a significant improvement since 1999, when the ratios were 91 and 88, respectively. However, only three regions — the Caucasus and central Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia — have achieved gender parity in primary education.
Aid, which comes under the eighth MDG, reached US$128.7 billion last year, a record high, but this was still US$19 billion short of the commitments made at the Gleneagles summit in 2005. Africa is shortchanged as the UN says preliminary estimates show it will receive only US$11 billion out of the US$25 billion increase promised at Gleneagles “due mainly to the underperformance of some European donors.”
Although gains have been made across the board, including a reduction in child mortality, a decline in new HIV infections and improved access to drinking water, the UN urged countries to target those hardest to reach — the poorest of the poor and those disadvantaged because of their sex, age, ethnicity or a disability. It said the gap between urban and rural areas remains daunting.
“We have success stories to point to,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in Geneva. “But achieving all the MDGs will require extra effort.”
Achieving the goals will require equitable and inclusive economic growth, he said.
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