Little chance of reducing poverty

SUB-SAHARAN Africa had little or no chance of achieving the UN target of having not more than 3% of its population living in extreme poverty by 2030, a new World Bank report said.

The rate of reduction is decelerating despite the decline of poverty in many parts of subSaharan Africa (SSA) since the 1990s.

Government statistics from 2015 showed that more than half of the 736 million poor people on the globe resided in sub-Saharan Africa and more than 85% of the poor resided in either that region or South Asia.

Over half of the world’s extremely poor 368 million people live in just five countries – India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Bangladesh – countries with massive populations.

By 2030 the World Bank says that the share of the global poor residing in sub-Saharan Africa will be about 87% “if economic growth over the next 12 years is similar to historical growth patterns”. About threequarters of the 43 countries with poverty rates above the average of 18% are in sub-Saharan Africa, with average rates of 41%. |