World Poverty Retreats by 100 Million

May 11, 2005

We reported in Is Capitalism Good for the Poor? that 1.2 billion of the world's people live in "extreme poverty." We called that good news, explaining that 1.2 billion represented an unprecedented decline in the number of people struggling to live on less than $1/day.

According to the recently-released world development indicators, the good news keeps getting better. The downward trend continues. World poverty now stands at 1.1 billion, meaning that an additional 100 million people have climbed above the poverty threshhold. Clearly, the work is far from over but success in the struggle is heartening.

For the full 2005 World Development Indicators report, see:

http://devdata.worldbank.org/wdi2005/Section1_1_1.htm

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