Global Poverty Scenario

• The number of people worldwide who live on less than $1.90 a day is defined as Global poverty. It has fallen down from 36 percent in 1990 to 10 percent in 2015.
• According to the World Bank, the ratio or percentage of the population living below the poverty line in developing countries has come down from 28% in 1990 to 21% in 2001.
• Poverty has declined substantially in most regions of the world like China, East Asia, and Pacific, South Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The ratio of Poverty in China, East Asia, and the Pacific regions have declined more rapidly than in South Asia. numbers of poor in china has fallen down from 88.3 percent in 1981 to 14.7 percent in 2008 to 0.7 percent in 2015.
• The substantial decline in the ratio of poverty in China, East Asia, and the Pacific is associated with rapid economic growth and high investments in human resource development in these regions.
• In South Asia also the decline has been rapid from 54 percent to 15 percent and not only decline the percentage of poor but also decline in the number of poor from 44 percent in 1990 to 17 percent in 2013.
• The situation is vice versa in Sub-Saharan Africa as in other regions poverty is declined but here the poverty ratio has actually risen from 41% in 1981 to 46% in 2001. or you can say Poverty has reappeared in some former socialist countries like Russia, earlier there was no poverty.

According to World Bank –

• The poverty rate in India appears to be higher than our national estimate of 26%.
• At the United Nations Millennium Summit in September 2002, leaders from 189 countries signed a declaration pledging to reduce the number of people living on less than $1 per day to half of what it was in 1990 by 2015. 

Poverty is a state or condition in which an individual or community lacks the financial resources and necessities for a basic standard of living. Each country may have its own set of criteria for determining how many of its citizens are poor. When an individual or community lacks the financial resources and necessities for a basic standard of living

There are two main methods used to assess poverty in statistics and economics:

1. Income is compared to the amount required to cover basic personal requirements such as food, clothes, and shelter under absolute poverty metrics.
2. Relative poverty is defined as a person’s inability to meet a minimum standard of living in comparison to others at the same time and place.