World Bank: Eradicating poverty may take more than a century

The World Bank confirmed on Tuesday that it could take more than a century to eradicate poverty, which affects about half the world's population.

In its new report on "Poverty, Prosperity and the Planet", the World Bank said that the pace of progress in eradicating poverty, combined with demographic growth, will make it impossible to achieve this goal within the time frame set for the 44 per cent of the world's population currently living in poverty.

Axel van Trotsenburg, the World Bank's first managing director, said that "the world is experiencing serious setbacks as a result of intersecting challenges, including slowing economic growth, the Corona pandemic, high debt, conflict, fragility and shocks from climate change," according to the international financial institution's report, which estimates the poverty line at less than $6.85 per person per day.

Getting out of these crises, it adds, will require the creation of a "new guide for development work".

According to the report, eradicating poverty requires approaches that are appropriate to each country's level of income, by prioritising policies that can reconcile the achievement of goals.

For example, low-income countries should prioritise poverty reduction through economic growth by increasing investment in job creation, human capital development, public services and infrastructure development, while building resilience.

Middle-income countries, the IMF adds, should prioritise income growth that reduces vulnerability to shocks, along with policies to reduce carbon intensity in their pursuit of growth.

In its report, the World Bank stressed that the global goal of eradicating extreme poverty by 2030 is out of reach and may take three decades or more, especially for low-income countries.

Nearly 700 million people - 8.5 per cent of the world's population - live on less than $2.15 a day. Extreme poverty is concentrated in countries suffering from fragility and persistently low economic growth, many of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

The report shows that progress in reducing the global wealth gap has stalled since the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, highlighting the slowdown in overall income growth during this period. According to the World Bank, global incomes need to increase fivefold to reach $25 per person per day, the minimum standard of well-being for high-income countries.

The report added that 1.7 billion people - 20 per cent of the world's population - still live in economies with high levels of inequality, reflecting a lack of economic mobility and hampering the potential for poverty reduction and inclusive growth prospects.

The report also highlighted the impact of "climate shocks" on around one in five people worldwide, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where they face deteriorating living conditions due to their high vulnerability to risks.