Extreme poverty may be eradicated globally by 2050: Report

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
13 Mar 2023 20:52
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Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at CGD, declares that in 2050, there will be no low-income country in the world.

People stand in a queue to receive food aid at the Itireleng informal settlement, near Laudium suburb in Pretoria, South Africa, May 20, 2020. (Reuters)

Spurred by economic growth in low-income countries, the end of extreme poverty may be accomplished by the year 2050, according to a new economic report.

Although the Covid pandemic was presumably supposed to reverse the progress of eradicating poverty, the damage caused a very limited impact on the overall trajectory of economic growth, the Center for Global Development (CGD) report explained.

“We know the world is going to look very different in 2050, and is a huge concern for the future,” said Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at CGD and one of the report’s authors.

“But we can’t let it overshadow the fact that continued economic growth should leave almost no one in the most desperate poverty that was the lot of the vast majority of humanity for most of history, albeit decades after it could have been eradicated.”

Kenny also declared that in 2050, there will be no low-income country in the world.

According to the forecast, countries whose individuals live on less than $2.25 a day indicate extreme poverty. By 2050, more than two-thirds of the world could live on more than $10 a day, up by 42%.

Rathin Roy, managing director of the ODI global affairs think tank, formerly the Overseas Development Institute, mentioned that Kenny's views could be possible if "everyone does the right thing."

“For most of my adult life global poverty reduced, until three years ago and then began to increase because of a variety of factors, including importantly the Covid pandemic, but other things as well. And getting it reduced again is proving very difficult.”

Finally, Kenny expressed concerns that the forecast also shows little growth in wealthy countries; nevertheless, he remains optimistic.

“If you look at where the demographic trends are it just all seems really rather positive for the low- and middle-income countries as a whole. So I’m more robustly optimistic for them, with the caveat that some of this depends on what rich countries do and the caveat of simple unknowns,” he said.