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Press release: Progress on poverty reduction falling short of Global Goals – New projections predict extreme poverty on the rise in low-income countries

In a groundbreaking study set to be published on 17 October, researchers Arief A. Yusuf, Zuzy Anna, Ahmad Komarulzaman, and Andy Sumner have unveiled stark findings that show we will not end extreme poverty by 2030.  

The paper, ‘Will economic growth be sufficient to end global poverty? New projections of the UN Sustainable Development Goals’, finds that by the 2030 deadline of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):  

• over 600 million people will remain in extreme poverty and 665 million people will be undernourished 

• there will be an increase in the number of people living in extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and low-income countries (LICs) though most of world’s undernourished people will be in middle-income countries (MICs)

• 1 in 10 of the population of developing countries will still lack access to clean water, this rate will be 1 in 3 in SSA and LICs 

• More than 1 in 5 people in developing countries will still lack basic sanitation, with 2/3 people in SSA and LICs lacking access to basic sanitation

Researchers from King’s College London and the SDGs Center, Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia, published the new paper with UNU-WIDER. Andy Sumner, Professor of International Development at King’s College London, and a Senior Non-Resident Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER, conducted the research with Professor of Economics, Arief A. Yusuf, also a Senior Non-Resident Research Fellow at UNU-WIDER, Zuzy Anna, and Ahmad Komarulzaman from Universitas Padjadjaran. 

The authors conclude that economic growth will not be sufficient to reduce these numbers and close the gap to the global poverty SDGs.  

Prof. Andy Sumner said ‘a model of inclusive growth, combining economic growth and redistribution, is essential at global and national levels. Further, the international community needs to consider debt relief and alternative financial revenues for developing economies as this will be critical for expanding their capacity to implement effective poverty-alleviating policies’. 

Prof. Arief Yusuf, added ‘The international community further needs to consider revenues for developing economies as this will be critical for expanding their capacity to implement effective poverty-alleviating policies.’
 

UNU-WIDER Director Kunal Sen said, ‘This study is incredibly important. We have lacked data and research on the projections of the SDGs post-pandemic and given the incredible impact the pandemic had on global poverty rates, it is essential we review where we are and how we move ahead on these goals. The world must take stock of these sobering projections and take any corrective measures possible to avoid them becoming reality’.  

For media enquiries and interview requests contact:
Leeni Varis 
varis@wider.unu.edu 
+ 358 9 61599262