Correcting Course: Key takeaways from the World Bank Report, Poverty and Shared Prosperity

Last week, the World Bank released its latest report ‘Correcting Course’. The timely report offers the international development community (and beyond) one of the most detailed analyses for understanding the impact on poverty rates around the world since the beginning of COVID-19 thus far.

Some of the key statistics include:?

• The global extreme poverty rate increased from 8.4% in 2019 to 9.3% in 2020. This means that more than 70 million people were pushed into extreme poverty.?
• Of the 71M figure, the majority of people were in India.
• Sub-Saharan Africa now accounts for 60% of all people in extreme poverty (389 million). This is more than any other region.
• By the end of 2022, as many as 685 million people could still be living in extreme poverty. This would make 2022 the second-worst year for poverty reduction in the past two decades and likely the largest increase since World War II.

In this context, the case for global giving has never been clearer. As an international community we must rally to fight poverty through increased international giving, innovative finance, supporting locally led programs and advocacy.?

However, at AIDN, we believe that we must not forget to also highlight the inexorable trend of reduction in poverty before and after the pandemic (p.7 and p.30 of the report). In 1990, more than one in three persons (~38%) of people globally lived in extreme poverty. In 2019, it was one in 10.

We must remember to highlight these long-term figures because we cannot risk diminishing the progress that has been made over the last two decades in poverty reduction. The pandemic was a global event with serious, complex and obvious far-reaching effects that should not be undermined - but we must focus on the continued determination and commitment to fighting poverty and inequality that persisted globally.?

That is, the fight to end poverty is working but only with continued, long-term, sustainable investment from funders and givers globally. And that fight continues today. Join us in continuing to advocate for better and more giving globally, and bringing together experts, do-ers and funders across Australia and beyond to create a more equitable and just world, where poverty continues to fall.

Read the full report here: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/37739/9781464818936.pdf