Goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 out of reach

Covid-19 has dealt the "biggest setback" to global poverty reduction efforts in decades, and the World Bank warned yesterday that the goal to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 likely remains out-of-reach.

Poverty rose sharply during the pandemic, and the development lender estimates about 70 million people were pushed into extreme poverty in 2020 -- the biggest one-year spike since monitoring began in 1990.

The report offers the first tally of those struggling to live on less than $2.15 a day, the new global definition of extreme poverty, but follows many warnings from the global development lender that poorer nations are being left behind.

Earlier this year it warned that as many 95 million people would fall back into extreme poverty by the end of this year. Ukraine war, rising inflation and slowing global growth have put further pressure on the bank's mission to lift people out of poverty.

"Inflation, currency depreciations, and broader overlapping crises" point to a grim outlook, World Bank President David Malpass said. "Progress in reducing extreme poverty has essentially halted in tandem with subdued global economic growth," he said.

Extreme poverty had fallen to 8.4 percent by 2019 from 38 percent in 1990, but pandemic triggered first rise in more than two decades.