Photo Credit: ISGlobal

Greetings from the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi, the United Nations Headquarters in Africa, the fourth headquarter of the United Nations and the only one located in the Global South. Accordingly, Nairobi is also where critical decisions to end global poverty are made. While researching the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global poverty for a book chapter to be published by Routledge, I stumbled upon the latest (Spring 2024) World Bank updates on ‘ending poverty in all its forms everywhere’  by 2030 (Sustainable Development Goal 1). Based on the World Bank updates, the prospects of ending the multiple forms of poverty across the world by 2030 are truly disheartening.

The world is in a race against time to eradicate poverty in all its forms by 2030. It is a fight we are currently losing. This is not a pessimistic view but a stark reality that demands our immediate attention. The World Bank updates reveal that the world is not on track to end poverty by 2030 – about 700 million people currently live in extreme poverty or live on less than USD 2.15 per day. The COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, sluggish economic growth and other 2020-2022 shocks have derailed the world’s progress towards ending poverty by 2030, and these shocks have caused the first increase in extreme poverty in decades across the world, according to the World Bank.

Should we lose hope of achieving a world free of poverty? Certainly not. Confronting reality is not about admitting defeat but making the necessary adjustments and stepping up the fight. I agree with the World Bank that ending poverty by 2030 remains out of reach. However, I staunchly believe in the possibility of ending poverty in our lifetime. The 2020 deadline is fast approaching, but we still have time to ramp up our efforts to reduce poverty significantly. This is crucial for our mission to eradicate poverty within our lifetime. I shared my thoughts on what needs to be done to triumph over poverty in the following blog posts:

1. No poverty in our lifetime: is this possible?
2. 10 (Sure) Ways of Losing the War on Poverty
3. What will the future of poverty eradication look like?

Among the considerations I presented in the above-mentioned blog posts, I would like to stress the significance of accurately determining the nature and level of global poverty, since it is a given that the key to successfully treating an illness lies in making an accurate diagnosis. As I argued in a scholarly article here, the measurement of poverty is of utmost significance as it helps to determine who the poor are, how many they are, where they live and what their deprivations are. In the words of  Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi (2009), “What we measure affects what we do; and if our measurements are flawed, decisions may be distorted.” The dominant use of income-based poverty measures and failure to give adequate attention to multidimensional poverty measures is a major cause for concern.

Admittedly, the World Bank’s assertion that nearly 700 million people currently live on less than USD 2. 15 a day indicates that the world is not on track to achieve the ‘No Poverty’ goal by 2030. However, as I argued in a blog post here, this USD 2.15 poverty line (or any income-based poverty measure) underreports the nature and level of extreme poverty in the world. Poverty is not only multidimensional but also complex, as we discussed in a scholarly article here. The world, as I discuss here and here, has over 1 billion people living in multidimensional poverty. Unless we fully embrace multidimensional poverty measures, we cannot expect to eradicate poverty in our lifetime!

In conclusion, I cannot emphasise enough how much I agree with the assertion by the World Bank’s Global Director for Poverty, Luis Felipe Lopez-Calva, that “a world free of poverty on a livable planet can only happen if we take action now to ensure people living in poverty have a clear pathway out”. Let us act now, then, to create a poverty-free world.  You and I have work to do!