Increase in levels of global poverty

After two decades of huge strides being made in tackling poverty around the World, the World Bank now says that this progress is now in reverse. This has come as a result of Covid-19 and climate change effects.

In January, the World Bank changed its already high forecast for the number of newly impoverished from between 88 and 115 million to between 119 and 124 million. The expected increase covers a wide range of areas including employment and education. There are calls for countries to show empathy and show "debt forgiveness" for those countries most affected.

The measure of the percentage of people living on less than £1.30 a day have seen increases but more concerning is the significant increase in those living on less than £2.35 a day. This has occurred due to the pandemic and its impact on closing borders and global trade.

A major concern for the future is the impact of lockdown across the World on education. With schools closed in many countries, it is a worry that those in developing countries won't be accessing online education like those in the developed nations. The impact this will have on future generations is stark, with a year of missed schooling equalling a lifetime loss of $10 trillion to Global GDP.

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Decades of progress on extreme poverty now in reverse due to Covid | Global development | The Guardian