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Prosperity For All
Report

Prosperity For All

Ending Extreme Poverty

World Bank, 2014

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Eye Opening
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

The World Bank Group set two major objectives in its quest to reduce global poverty: The first is to cut the number of people subsisting on less than $1.25 per day to just 3% of the population by 2030, down from 17.7% in 2010. The second is to track the income advances of “the bottom 40%” rather than tracking nations’ average economic progress. The magnitude and significance of these efforts lead getAbstract to recommend this incisive report to policy makers, NGO executives and anyone concerned with the plight of the global poor.

Summary

Developing countries’ economic growth has helped reduce global “extreme poverty” both in absolute numbers and in terms of percentage of the population. The tally of those who subsist on less than $1.25 per day has dropped from 1.9 billion in 1990, or 36% of the population, to 1.2 billion, or 17.7%, in 2010. But growth in and of itself won’t end destitution. Rising income inequality blunts the “poverty-reducing power” of economic advancement. To keep the gains of past decades and to slash extreme poverty to just 3% of the population by 2030, nations must “make growth inclusive” so the poor benefit.

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About the Author

The World Bank Group provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries.