The World Bank (WB) on Wednesday warned that the goal to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 likely remains out of reach as Covid-19 has dealt the "biggest setback" to global poverty reduction efforts in decades.
According to the World Bank report, the poverty rate 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, reports AFP.
It offers the first tally of those struggling to live on less than $2.15 a day, the new global definition of extreme poverty. Still, it follows many warnings from the global development lender that poorer nations are being left behind.
Earlier this year the institution warned that as many as 95 million people would fall back into extreme poverty by the end of this year.
Amid the setbacks, the report projects global extreme poverty rate for 2030 will only fall to seven per cent or nearly 600 million people.
Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 60 per cent of all people in extreme poverty, according to the bank, it added.
Income losses of the world's poorest countries were twice as high as in their wealthier counterparts, causing global inequality to rise for the first time in decades, the report said.
Russia-Ukraine war rising inflation and slowing global growth have put further pressure on the bank's mission to lift people out of poverty, said the report.
Bd-pratidin English/Golam Rosul
