ADDIS ABABA (AFP) – The chances of reducing world poverty by half by 2015 are increasingly less likely owing to inadequate plans by states and the global economic crisis, a UN report released in Ethiopia said.
Halving global poverty by 2015 is one of United Nations' eightMillennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at improving livelihoods across the world.
"Even before the onset of the current global financial and economic crisis, the world had not been on track to meet MDG 1 by 2015," said the report referring to the first MDG.
"Now the crisis is making attainment of that goal even more elusive," added the report entitled "Rethinking Poverty."
It however noted that the number of people living in extreme poverty -- on less than 1.25 dollars daily according to the World Bank --- had declined to 1.4 billion in 2005 from 1.9 billion in 1981.
But excluding China, the number actually rose over the same period from 1.1 billion to 1.2 billion.
Poverty and hunger remain high in sub-Sahara Africa, which has been badly hit by the economic crisis and soaring world food prices between 2007 and 2008, said the report.
"There are various estimates of over 100 million people who fell into poverty as a result of" the economic crisis and high food prices," it explained.
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