ISLAMABAD: A new World Bank report says the global poverty rate is projected to fall to 9.6 per cent in 2015, and there will be some 700 million people living on less than $1.90 a day.

In 2012 there were an estimated 900m people living on less than $1.90 a day, and despite solid development gains progress has been uneven and significant work remains to be done, according to the ‘Global Monitoring Report 2015-2016’, a World Bank group flagship report issued on Thursday.

The report released ahead of the annual World Bank-IMF meeting says the extreme poverty has become more concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Addressing moderate poverty and mitigating the vulnerability of falling back into poverty have become more pressing issues in many countries, including in those where the bottom 40pc saw their incomes decline.

South Asia achieved poverty reduction more rapidly over the past 30 years, even though it is still home to about a third of the world’s poor, notes the report.

Even in a world of single-digit extreme poverty, non-income disparities, such as limited access to quality education and health services, pose a bottleneck to sustained poverty reduction and shared prosperity.

The report says that over 90pc of poverty is concentrated in countries with swelling working-age populations that continue to register rapid growth.

Wider environmental sustainability concerns are a major challenge throughout the world, in regard to climate change and its impact on natural resources upon which many of the poorest depend, such as water. In sum, while development progress was impressive, it has been uneven and a large unfinished agenda remains.

The report notes that world economic growth in 2015 is set to disappoint, down to 3.1pc, from 3.4pc in 2014, on the basis of slower growth in many emerging market economies. Growth is expected to pick up to 3.6pc in 2016, helped by strengthening recoveries in major advanced economies — led by the United States — and some turnaround from weak situations in several emerging market and developing economies.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play