Actualidad

Ending extreme poverty and sharing prosperity: Progress and Policies

The World Bank established two clear-cut goals in 2013, as part of its mission to rid the world of poverty: (i) to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 and (ii) to encourage shared prosperity. Its report “Ending extreme poverty and sharing prosperity: Progress and policies” presents its performance in achieving them over the last two years.

The document is divided into three blocks: the first and the second analyse the results obtained for each of the two goals, while the third presents a set of recommendations for the public authorities in developing policies to eradicate poverty and bring about shared prosperity.

Success in eradicating poverty was benchmarked against three key indicators: (i) the performance of economic revenues based on the new poverty line ($1.90 a day); (ii) the degree of poverty between people with like-for-like characteristics, and (iii) the scope and depth of poverty, taking into account not simply lack of money but also other non-monetary deficits. The goal of promoting shared wealth is evaluated with respect to the increase in monetary revenues in like-for-like households at the base of the income pyramid.

The document concludes that significant, albeit uneven, progress has been made in reducing poverty and promoting shared prosperity, while little progress has been made in long-term environmental sustainability. There is still much to do, and the document recognises three specific challenges: the depth of poverty, inequality in shared prosperity and significant differences in all dimensions of development.