Reducing Poverty And Famine

MDG1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger

• Target: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1 a day
• Target: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people
• Target: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

In 1990, approximately 1.8 billion people in developing countries were living on less than $1.25 a day while 31 percent of children under 5 were underweight. The UN’s target to halve poverty has been one of the biggest achievements of the Millennium Development goals. However, the hopes of reducing famine by half dim as experts have shared that current trends make that target most likely impossible to meet.

Despite recent factors challenging poverty reduction – such as the global economic crisis and the rise of food and fuel prices – the poverty rate has decreased since 1990. The UN reported in their 2010 Annual Report that the financial crisis in 2009 would leave an additional 50 million people in poverty, most especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern and Southeastern Asia.

However, the most important factors that complicate poverty reduction in communities are poor health, lack of education, the lack of a financial safety net for emergencies, and corruption and ineffective governance, which can discourage private investments. These obstacles are particularly challenging in sub-Saharan Africa, which has some of the highest percentages of poverty and famine – 239 million people in that region were undernourished in 2010, and approximately 50 percent are living on $1.25 per day.

Ultimately, global poverty was halved five years in advance of the 2015 deadline despite the financial crisis, while we still struggle to halve famine. 2010 estimates were that 925 million people would suffer from chronic famine, around 100 million more than the amount of malnourished people in 1990. Clearly, poverty and famine are two of the most critical issues in today’s world.

Nina Mansour is an intern at InterAction.

In the year 2000, after a decade of conferences and summits, the UN created the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – a series of eight goals with concrete targets to achieve by 2015. With just three years until December 31, 2015, the world is beginning to evaluate how close we are to achieving the MDGs and to look forward. This eight-part blog series highlights some of the successes and challenges as we close out 2012.