Economic turmoil puts 55 M more people in poverty

Special Report: The Millenium Dev’t Goals
 
LESS than six years remain before the Millennium Declaration reaches 2015 as the target date to halve extreme poverty in all its forms—and the world finds itself mired in an economic crisis that is unprecedented in its severity and global dimensions.

The grim repercussions of the economic crisis slowed or reversed progress toward the goals that is now threatened by sluggish or even negative economic growth.

Major advances in the fight against extreme poverty from 1990 to 2005 may have stalled. During that period, the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day decreased from 1.8 billion to 1.4 billion.

In 2009, an estimated 55 million to 90 million more people will be living in extreme poverty than anticipated before the crisis.

Largely, because of higher food prices, the encouraging trend in the eradication of hunger since the early 1990s was reversed in 2008. Hunger in poor countries is on the rise.

A decrease in international food prices in the second half of 2008 has failed to translate into more affordable food for most people around the world.

Not surprisingly, children bear the brunt of the burden. More than one quarter of children in developing regions are underweight for their age, stunting their prospects for survival, growth and long-term development.

Meager progress on child nutrition from 1990 to 2007 is insufficient to meet the 2015 target, and will likely be eroded by higher food prices and economic turmoil.

These ongoing crises may also hold back progress toward gender equality, by creating new hurdles to women’s employment.

The International Labor Organization estimates that global unemployment in 2009 could reach 6.1 percent to 7.0 percent for men and 6.5 percent to 7.4 percent for women, many of whom remain trapped in insecure—often unpaid—jobs.

The global financial situation may compromise funding for programs to improve maternal health, the goal toward which there has been least progress so far.

Since the mid-1990s, most developing countries have experienced a major reduction in donor funding for family planning on a per woman basis, despite the undeniable contribution of such programs to maternal and child health.

The ability of countries to mobilize domestic resources for development is also in jeopardy. Export revenues of developing countries fell in the last quarter of 2008, with the collapse of commodity prices and exports more generally.

Economic necessity will doubtless continue to exert pressure on an already fragile global environment, where deforestation and the extinction of species proceed at alarming rates, and a global water crisis looms.

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals Report 2009 was released on Tuesday by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat.

In September 2000, member states of the United Nations gathered at the Millennium Summit to affirm commitments toward reducing poverty and the worst forms of human deprivation.

The Summit adopted the UN Millennium Declaration, which embodies specific targets and milestones in eliminating extreme poverty worldwide.

To help track progress in the attainment of the eight goals and 18 targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) over the period 1990 to 2015, experts from the United Nations Secretariat and International Monetary Fund (IMF), Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the World Bank identified and selected a set of time-bound and measurable indicators.

The Philippines, and 188 countries, committed themselves to making the right to development a reality for everyone.

The MDG aims that by 2015 the proportion of people suffering from extreme poverty and hunger will be halved; all children will be in primary school; girls will have the same educational opportunities as boys; the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water will be halved;

The spread of HIV/AIDS and malaria will be stopped; a child’s risk of dying before the age of five will be reduced by two-thirds; a mother’s risk of dying while pregnant will be reduced by three quarters; the world’s ecosystem and biodiversity will be better protected from destruction;

At least 100 million slum dwellers will get better housing, health care, and new opportunities for education; people in developing countries will have greater access to essential drugs; the benefits of new technologies, especially information technologies, will flow to more countries and more people; and wealthy countries will support developing countries with debt relief, more financial aid, and greater market access.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs