More than a billion people around the world are living in extreme poverty, according to a new report published by the United Nations, with almost half of them in conflict-affected countries. This has been said in the Multidimensional Poverty Index released by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Thursday. It said war-torn countries have higher levels of extreme poverty across all indicators such as nutrition, electricity, water and sanitation.
India has the highest number of people facing extreme poverty, with 234 million people in poverty out of a population of 1.4 billion. This is followed by Pakistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Democratic Republic of Congo. Together, these five countries represent almost half of the world's 1.1 billion poor people.
According to the report, research conducted across 112 countries and 6.3 billion people found that 1.1 billion people live in extreme poverty, of which 455 million live in the shadow of conflict. “Conflicts have intensified in recent years, resulting in record numbers of people displaced and widespread impacts on lives and livelihoods,” said Achim Steiner, head of UNDP.
According to the report, about 584 million children under the age of 18 are facing extreme poverty, which is 27.9 percent of children worldwide, while the figure is 13.5 percent among adults. The child mortality rate in conflict affected countries is 8 percent, while in peaceful countries it is only 1.1 percent. The report said 83.2 percent of the world's poorest people live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
The index also includes an in-depth study on Afghanistan, which found that 5.3 million people could fall into poverty between 2015-16 and 2022-23. Last year, nearly two-thirds of people in Afghanistan were considered poor. “Meeting basic needs for poor people in conflict-affected countries is an even more difficult and frustrating battle,” said Yanchun Zhang, UNDP Chief Statistician.
“Poverty reduction in conflict areas is slow, so poor people living in these areas are being left behind,” said OPHI Director Sabina Alkire. “Looking at these figures, it is clear that we cannot end poverty without investing in peace.” Can do.”
