UNDP: 51.5 million more people fell into poverty in a single year

Residents sit in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. [AFP]
Residents sit in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. [AFP]

The number of people living in poverty worldwide has increased for the first time since the index used to measure it was introduced in 2010.

A report on the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), released Monday (local time) by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), found that about 1.2 billion people around the world are living in extreme poverty — 51.5 million more than a year earlier.

UNDP said it was the first rise in the number of people in extreme poverty since the two organizations developed and began calculating the MPI in 2010.

Of the 1.2 billion, more than half — about 617 million — are children, and 83 percent live in rural areas.

UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo called the rise in poverty "a wake-up call for the world," saying the figures represent 1.2 billion people trapped in a cycle of hardship marked by hunger, interrupted schooling, and a lack of clean water and electricity.

UNDP said the increase in the poverty population is driven primarily by population growth.

Despite the overall rise, the MPI fell by half over the past 15 years in 33 countries.

Asian nations including China and Vietnam recorded rapid declines in their poverty index scores, as did six countries in sub-Saharan Africa.


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