Topics Covered: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
Poverty and Shared Prosperity Report:
Context:
It is a biennial report of the World Bank.
- It provides a global audience with the latest and most accurate estimates on trends in global poverty and shared prosperity.
Key findings in the latest report:
Overall scenario:
- Global extreme poverty is expected to rise for the first time in 20 years because of the disruption caused by COVID-19.
- This will exacerbate the impact of conflict and climate change, which were already slowing down poverty reduction.
- The pandemic may push another 88 million to 115 million into extreme poverty or having to live on less than $1.50 per day, resulting in a total of 150 million such individuals.
Worst affected regions:
- Many of the newly poor individuals will be from countries that already have high poverty rates while many in middle income countries (MICs) will slip below the poverty line.
- Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, will be badly hit as per the Bank’s projections.
What needs to be done now?
In order to reverse this serious setback to development progress and poverty reduction, countries will need to:
- Prepare for a different economy post-COVID, by allowing capital, labour, skills, and innovation to move into new businesses and sectors.
Sources: the Hindu.
