FACT SHEET
High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals, United Nations Headquarters, New York, 25 September 2008
QUICK FACTS
GOAL 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
WHERE DO WE STAND?
The MDG target of cutting in half the proportion of people in the
developing world living on less than $1 a day by 2015 remains within
reach for the world as a whole. However, this achievement will be
largely the result of extraordinary success in Asia, mostly East Asia. In
contrast, little progress has been made in reducing extreme poverty in
sub-Saharan Africa.
New estimates released by the World Bank in August 2008 show that
the number of people in the developing world living in extreme poverty
may be higher than previously thought. Using a new threshold for
extreme poverty now set at $1.25 a day (purchasing power parity) in
2005 prices, the Bank concludes that there were 1.4 billion people
living in extreme poverty in 2005.
Based on these data, poverty rates are estimated to have fallen from
52 per cent in 1981 to 42 per cent in 1990 and to 26 per cent in 2005.
Over a 25-year period, the poverty rate in East Asia fell from nearly 80
per cent to under 20 per cent. In sub-Saharan Africa, the poverty rate
remained constant at around 50 per cent.
Even though the proportion of people worldwide suffering from
malnutrition and hunger has fallen since the early 1990s, the number of
The World Banks latest estimates show that 1.4 billion
people in developing countries were living in extreme
poverty in 2005.
Recent increases in the price of food have had a direct
and adverse effect on the poor and are expected to
push many more people an estimated 100 million into
absolute poverty.
The proportion of children under ve who are
undernourished declined from 33 per cent in 1990 to
26 per cent in 2006. However, by 2006, the number of
children in developing countries who were underweight
still exceeded 140 million.
people lacking access to food has risen. With recent increases in food
prices, it is estimated that 1 billion people will go hungry, while another
2 billion will be undernourished.
Eastern Asia, notably China, was successful in more than halving the
proportion of underweight children between 1990 and 2006. In contrast,
and despite improvements since 1990, almost 50 per cent of children
are underweight in Southern Asia. This region alone accounts for more
than half the worlds undernourished children, while the majority of
countries making the least progress in reducing child malnutrition are in
sub-Saharan Africa.
For millions in the world today, jobs provide little relief from poverty
because pay is so low. Employed persons living in a household where
earnings are less than $1 per person a day are considered the working
poor. In sub-Saharan Africa, over half the workers fall into this category.
Between 55 and 75 per cent of the working age population is employed
in most regions. The two exceptions are Northern Africa and Western
Asia, partly because the employment-to-population ratio for women
is less than 25 per cent (more than 40 percentage points below the
ratio for men). For women to remain outside the labour force is often
not a choice. More women in these regions would opt to work if it
were socially acceptable, if more jobs were created for women and
if institutions were in place to help them combine work and family
responsibilities.
Rapid urbanization has altered the distribution and face of poverty. Slum
dwellers, who account for 1 billion of the worldwide urban population,
die earlier, experience more hunger and disease, receive less education
and have fewer job opportunities.
WHAT HAS WORKED
1. Micronance has helped many of the worlds poor to increase their
incomes through self-employment and empowerment. With access
to small loans and other nancial services such as savings and
micro-insurance, micronance clients, mostly women, have formed
micro-enterprises that generate income. Through micronance, the
poor are able to establish support networks for improving health
Issued by the UN Department of Public Information DPI/2517 G September 2008
and education in their communities. Micronance also helps them
meet unexpected needs arising from medical emergencies or a
death in the family. Grameen Bank of Bangladesh is one of the
worlds most successful micronance institutions. From a starting
base of 10 members in 1976, Grameen Bank today has over 7.5
million borrowers, 65 per cent of whom have managed to lift
themselves out of extreme poverty. Other pioneers in micronance
include ACCION International in Latin America and the Self-
Employed Womens Association (SEWA) Bank in India. In 2006,
micronance institutions provided loans to 113 million clients
worldwide.
2. For the past two years, Malawis voucher programme for fertilizers
and seeds has helped double its agricultural productivity, turning
the country into a net food exporter after decades of famine as a
perennial food importer. Malawi needs 2.2 million tons of maize
a year to feed itself. Before the subsidy programme began,
the 2005 harvest fell to a low of 1.2 million tons of maize. The
implementation of the National Input Subsidy Programme resulted
in a dramatic increase to 3.2 million tons of maize in 2007,
according to the Ministry of Agriculture. The bumper harvests
resulting from the programme are helping poor farmers to earn
more income.
3. NERICA - or the New Rice for Africa, a crossbreed of Asian and
African rice varieties - can produce up to 200 per cent more than
traditional crops and is expected to generate savings of several
million dollars per year in the cost of rice imports in several pilot
countries. Created by the African Rice Centre with support from
the UN Development Programme and Japan, it combines the
resilience of West African rice with the high productivity traits of
Asian rice. A dozen years after its debut, NERICA has contributed to
food security and improved nutrition in Cte dIvoire, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Republic
of Congo, Togo and Uganda, where many farmers have been able
to produce enough rice to feed their families and turn a prot in the
market.
4. Since 2002, the courier delivery company TNT and the World Food
Programme (WFP) have developed a partnership called Moving
the World to help ght global hunger. TNT has donated services to-
talling 38 million for activities including an emergency response
system and a joint logistics supply chain. TNT has provided WFP
with express transport of equipment critical in emergencies. In
2003-4, the rm transported emergency food supplies by land and
air to Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Liberia and Sudan and it assists WFP in the
implementation of the Programmes Fleet Management System in
Sierra Leone, Sudan, Pakistan, Liberia and Angola. WFP used
TNT trucks to deliver 430 tons of rice to more than 2.2 million
victims of a 2007 cyclone in Bangladesh. TNT employees also
raised an additional 9 million for WFP's school feeding projects.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE?
Implement the concrete steps to mitigate hunger identied by the
High-Level Conference on World Food Security (held in Rome
in June 2008), including through promoting national, regional and
international cooperation to enhance food security and reduce trade
distortions.
Ensure that there are social safety nets to minimize the
consequences on the poor of the global economic slowdown and
higher food and energy prices.
Urgently increase emergency food aid to enable WFP and other
food-aid programmes to provide emergency food assistance.
Promote school feeding programmes.
Assist developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, to
transform subsistence agriculture in order to ensure long-term, sus -
tainable productivity increases and a more diversied economic base.
Support research and development in yield-enhancing agricultural
and climate change technologies.
Promote equitable access to economic resources and decent work
opportunities, especially for particularly disadvantaged groups such
as women and young people.
Form partnerships with civil society, NGOs, the private sector and
foundations to develop participatory, pro-poor, urban and rural
development strategies.
Develop, for both urban and rural areas, the infrastructure and
services that will enhance the productive capacity of enterprises
and facilitate integration into the global economy.
Adopt urban development policies that will upgrade slums and
improve the availability of basic services.
Facilitate the integration of the least developed countries into the
multilateral trading system by increasing their access to funds
under Aid for Trade.
Sources: Committing to action: Achieving the MDGs, Background note by the
Secretary-General for the High-level Event on the Millennium Development
Goals, United Nations, New York, 25 September 2008; The Millennium Devel-
opment Goals Report 2008, United Nations; United Nations MDG Database
[Link] MDG Monitor Website [Link] UNDP;
Grameen Bank website [Link]
For more information, please contact mediainfo@[Link]
or see [Link]/millenniumgoals