UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17 (APP): More than a billion people worldwide live in acute poverty and 40 per cent are in countries exposed to violent conflict, according to a UN-backed study published Thursday.
The finding comes in the latest update to the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), jointly published by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
The MPI was launched in 2010 and this year’s edition features research across 112 countries and 6.3 billion people.
It found that 1.1 billion are living in acute poverty and a staggering 455 million are in countries experiencing war or fragility.
“Conflicts have intensified and multiplied in recent years, reaching new highs in casualties, displacing record millions of people, and causing widespread disruption to lives and livelihoods,” Achim Steiner, the UNDP Administrator, said in a statement..
Poverty reduction tends to be the slowest in countries most affected by conflict, where poverty is often the highest.
Countries at war have higher deprivations across all indicators of multidimensional poverty, such as lack of access to electricity, adequate water and sanitation, education, and nutritious food.
For example, over one in four people in conflict-affected countries lacks access to electricity, compared to just over one in 20 in more stable regions. Similar disparities are evident in areas such as child education, nutrition and mortality.
Furthermore, deprivations are markedly more severe in nutrition, access to electricity and access to water and sanitation for poor people caught in conflict, relative to those who are impoverished in more peaceful settings.
The MPI also revealed that over half of the world’s 1.1 billion poor are children under the age of 18, or 584 million.
Globally, nearly 28 per cent of children live in poverty, compared with 13.5 percent of adults.
It also includes an in-depth case study on Afghanistan, where 5.3 million more people fell into multidimensional poverty during the turbulent period from 2015-2016 and 2022-2023. Furthermore, data from last year shows that nearly two-thirds of Afghans were poor.
Steiner called for more action to support people living in multidimensional poverty.
“We need resources and access for specialized development and early recovery interventions to help break the cycle of poverty and crisis,” he said.
The MPI was published as the world marked the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, observed annually on 17 October.
This year’s theme focuses on ending social and institutional discrimination against people living in poverty.
“Eradicating poverty is an essential foundation for humane, dignified societies that leave no one behind,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in his message to mark the day.
Although poverty is “a global plague” affecting millions, he stressed that it is not inevitable but the direct result of the choices that societies and governments make – or fail to make.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said ending global poverty and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires governments shaping institutions and systems that put people first.
“It demands that we prioritize investments in decent work, learning opportunities and social protection that offer ladders out of poverty,” he said.
“And it calls on us to fully implement the new Pact for the Future by supporting an SDG Stimulus and reforming the global financial architecture to help developing countries invest in their people.”
UN Member States adopted the Pact for the Future in September, which covers sustainable development, international peace and security, science and technology, youth and future generations, and transforming global governance.
About poverty report, Sabina Alkire, Director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, said it provides the “first measured global analysis at this scale examining how in conflict settings multidimensionally poor people are affected.
And it is sobering. Using the global MPI we find that out of the 6.3 billion people living in 112 countries, 1.1 billion are poor. And 455 million poor people live in countries experiencing conflict, fragility and/or low peacefulness.
“So poverty is not their only struggle. Moreover, the level of poverty in conflict-affected areas is far higher. In countries at war, over one in three people are poor (34.8 percent) whereas in non-conflict-affected countries it’s one in nine (10.9 percent) according to the Uppsala Conflict Data Programme. And sadly, poverty reduction is slower in conflict settings –“ so the poor in conflict settings are being left behind. These numbers compel a response: we cannot end poverty without investing in peace.”
In addition to the in-depth analyses of poverty in conflict settings, the latest MPI report offers nuanced insights on the lived experience of poor people and trends in poverty reduction around the world:
— Over half of the 1.1 billion poor people are children under the age of 18 (584 million). Globally, 27.9 percent of children live in poverty, compared with 13.5 percent of adults.
— Large proportions of the 1.1 billion poor people lack adequate sanitation (828 million), housing (886 million) or cooking fuel (998 million).
— Well over half of the 1.1 billion poor people live with a person who is undernourished in their household (637 million). In South Asia 272 million poor people live in households with at least one undernourished person, and in Sub- Saharan Africa 256 million do.