BBC: World Bank: Extreme poverty 'to fall below 10%'
The World Bank has said that for the first time less than 10% of the world's population will be living in extreme poverty by the end of 2015.
The bank said it was using a new income figure of $1.90 per day to define extreme poverty, up from $1.25.
It forecasts that the proportion of the world's population in this category will fall from 12.8% in 2012 to 9.6%. ...
... However, the report's authors said the "growing concentration of global poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is of great concern".
Extreme poverty in that region is seen as falling from 46.2% in 2012 to 35.2% at the end of 2015. ...
... The World Bank says the downward trend is due to strong growth rates in developing countries and investments in education, health, and social safety nets. ...
... And the bank warned that poverty is "becoming deeper and more entrenched in countries that are either conflict ridden or overly dependent on commodity exports".
1990: 1,959 billion = 37.1% of world's population.
1999: 1,747 billion = 29% of world's population.
2012: 902 million = 12.8% of world's population.
2015: 702 million = 9.6% of world's population.
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