Population Growth And Poverty Interlinked According To World Bank
According to The World Bank, there is a clear and direct relationship between population growth and poverty.
Around 700 million people across the world currently live on less than $2.15 USD* per day, the amount considered to be the extreme poverty line.
In 2015, the United Nations set a range of 17 Sustainable Development Goals as part of a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all. These goals address the inter-connected global challenges we face, including those related to poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace and justice.
One of the UN’s 17 goals is to end extreme poverty by 2030, a target that appears to be out of reach. According to The World Bank, there will still be an estimated 600 million people living on less than $2.15 per day by 2030.
And it is not just low-income countries that are affected. Population growth means that poverty also remains a challenge for many middle-income countries where there has been an increase in the total number of people living on less than $6.85 USD per day, the poverty line for upper-middle income countries.
According to The World Bank, poverty and inequality cannot be reduced without also addressing interlinked global challenges, including slow economic growth, fragility and conflict, overpopulation, and climate change.
Climate change is hindering poverty reduction and presenting a major threat going forward. The lives and livelihoods of poor people are the most vulnerable to climate-related risks, with millions around the world pushed into, or trapped in, poverty caused by natural disasters every year. Higher temperatures are already reducing productivity in Africa and Latin America, further depressing economic growth, particularly in the world’s poorest regions.
Eradicating poverty, says The World bank, requires tackling its many dimensions. Countries cannot adequately address poverty without also improving people’s well-being in a comprehensive way, including through more equitable access to health, education, and basic infrastructure and services, all of which are harder to attain while global populations continue to grow.
* USD used as the global benchmark currency.
Submitted by Friends of Retha
The Message is the ground-breaking debut novel by Yan Vana, a thought-provoking and critically acclaimed debut that will change the way you think about overpopulation and the near future of earth.
Add Comment