Today, there are about 1 billion extremely poor people in the developing world who subsist on less than $1 a day. Of those, half a billion live on less than 75 cents a day and 162 million live on less than 50 cents. The most unfortunate consequence of widespread poverty is that more than 800 million people cannot afford to meet their minimum calorie requirements. Chronically underfed and largely without assets other than their own labour power, they remain highly vulnerable to the crushing blows of illness and natural or human-made calamities. These extreme poor are a group that hovers on the outer limits of human survival.
Substantial progress in reducing poverty has been made since 1990, suggesting that the first of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) — to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and hunger — will be met at the global level. If it is, who will be likely to move out of poverty and hunger and who will remain left behind?
This brief addresses this question by developing a better understanding of where the world’s poorest and hungry live and by examining whether business as usual will result in improvements in their welfare. The analysis suggests it will not.
