More than 1 billion people in the world are living in extreme poverty, UN report reveals, what does it say about India?
More than one billion people in the world are living in extreme poverty and half of them are children, while about 40 such people are living in conflict or unstable countries. This information was given in a report released by the United Nations on Thursday. The report released by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Oxford University’s Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative said that more than 83 percent of poor people live in rural areas and the same percentage of these people live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
The United Nations Development Programme and Oxford have been releasing the Multidimensional Poverty Index every year since 2010, which is based on 10 indicators including health, education and standard of living. This year’s index analyzed data from 112 countries of the world, which is home to 6.3 billion people of the world.
According to the index, 1.1 billion people are living in extreme poverty, out of which about half live in five countries India (234 million), Pakistan (93 million), Ethiopia (86 million), Nigeria (74 million) and Congo (66 million).
Most children in poverty
According to the report, about half of the people living in extreme poverty i.e. 584 million are children below the age of 18. Of them, 317 million people live in sub-Saharan Africa while 184 million people reside in South Asia. According to this, poverty has increased in Afghanistan and the proportion of poor children is even higher at about 59 percent.
UNDP and Oxford said that this year’s report focuses on poverty amid conflict, as 2023 saw the highest number of conflicts since World War II and the highest number of people ever, i.e. 117 million, had to leave their homes and be displaced due to war, disasters and other factors.
What did the United Nations say
Pedro Conceição, director of the United Nations Development Program Office, said, “For the first time, the report prepared by combining conflict data with global ‘MPI’ data highlights the harsh realities of those who are facing conflict and poverty simultaneously.”
He told the Associated Press, “The shocking thing is that 455 million people living in multidimensional poverty and conflict are living in severe lack of basic needs like nutrition, water and sanitation, electricity and education. And this lack is three to five times more severe than the poor in normal areas.”
Sabina Alkire, director of the Oxford Initiative, said, “MPI can tell which areas are poor and targeted poverty alleviation efforts can be made in those areas. He said, “For example, there is military rule in Burkina Faso and attacks by extremists have increased there. About two-thirds of the population there is poor.”
