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| Kathmandu, Sunday April 21, 2002 Baishakh 08, 2059. |
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'Many countries may not reach
2015 poverty goals'
Post Report
KATHMANDU, April 20:Despite progress in recent
years, both poor and rich countries need to do much more if the international community is
to meet its commitment of halving global poverty in all the world’s regions by 2015,
says a new World Bank report, World Development Indicators 2002.
According to a press release issued here today
by the World Bank from Washington, the brisk economic growth in china and India will
enable the world to reach the overall goal of reducing global poverty. "But the data
in the new study–which covers all eight of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
– say progress is uneven and that too many regions and countries are falling far
short of the goals," states the release.
Still, more advances are possible if poor
countries improve policies and governance and rich countries expand trade access and
increase foreign aid. Policies in developing countries have been improving during the last
15 or 20 years. Rich countries have eased barriers to poor country exports during the last
decade but obstacles remain high, particularly in agriculture and textiles, states the
World Bank release.
"The past decade has been a good one for
opening up markets to goods from poor countries and a bad one for increasing foreign aid
flows," said the release quoting Nicholas Stern, the World Bank’s Chief
Economist and Senior Vice-President for Development Economics. "Monterrey showed that
we have begun to turn the corner on aid. But in the decade ahead, we must push vigorously
on trade. We know development can work, yet 1.2 billion people still live on less than $1
a day. The challenge of meeting the Millennium Development Goals reminds us all that we
can and must do better."
The MDGs aim to reduce income poverty by 2015
and spur significant improvements in education, gender equality, health care, and in
overcoming hunger and environmental degradation. The new study shows that for the poorest
countries, many of the goals are far out of reach while even in better-off countries there
may be regions or other sub-groups that lag far behind.
The most-quoted goal calls for reducing the
proportion of people living on less than $1 a day to half the 1990 level by 2015, from one
in every third person in the developing world to one in every six. The new Bank report
shows that reaching that goal is possible in most developing regions if growth in per
capita income accelerates to an average of 3.6 percent per year. That growth would be
nearly twice the rate achieved over the last decade, but the experience of some countries
shows that it is possible. China averaged almost 9 percent annual growth in GDP per capita
in the 1980s and 1990s. And in India, faster growth in the last decade helped to reduce
substantially the proportion of people living in poverty.
Each goal is important by itself, but they
should also be viewed together–they are mutually reinforcing. Better basic health
care and nutrition increases learning and productivity. And better education, especially
for women, leads to better health outcomes. The living of many poor people is damaged by
environmental degradation. Reducing poverty gives people more resources to pursue better
education and health care and a cleaner environment, says the release.
This year’s World Development Indicators
marks the 25th edition. The reports are based on information from national statistics
agencies. Shaida Badiee, Director of the Bank’s Development Data Group called on
nations to improve their data reporting so they and the international community are well
informed of the challenges and successes of development and can respond.
The new report shows that prospects of reaching
the Millennium Development Goals vary by region. Fast-growing East Asia could reach the
poverty goals, with the number of people living in extreme poverty expected to drop by
almost 80 percent. Sub-Saharan Africa, meanwhile, remains the biggest concern, states the
release.
According to the release, South Asia has
experienced rapid growth, averaging 5.9 percent a year since 1990, which has helped to
reduce poverty substantially. Strong growth in India helped to raise the regional average
growth rate in the 1990s; Bangladesh and Sri Lanka also experienced good growth. The
ability of the region, especially India, to sustain average growth of 5-6 percent a year
will be critical to achieving the poverty reduction targets for 2015. The region has made
gains in reducing mortality in children under five since 1990, especially in Bangladesh.
At the same time, little progress has been made in reducing malnutrition; today, nearly
half of all children under the age of five are malnourished. The resurgence of
tuberculosis and the threat of HIV/AIDS are also a cause for concern, says the release.
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