India: Is poverty really decreasing?
23/1/2024: India claims that almost 250 million people have been lifted out of multidimensional poverty in the past nine years, according to a report by a government think tank.. However, experts have raised doubts about a lack of relevant data.
Source: DW
Wealth of five richest men doubles since 2020
15/1/2024: The world’s five richest men have more than doubled their fortunes from $405 billion to $869 billion since 2020, while nearly five billion people have been made poorer, reveals a new Oxfam report on inequality and global corporate power. Oxfam urges a new era of public services, corporate regulation, breaking up monopolies and enacting taxes on permanent wealth and excess profit.
Source: Oxfam International
Bjørn Lomborg: The climate contrarian who puts poverty first
16/10/2023: Under political pressure, the World Bank has unequivocally added climate change to its anti-poverty mandate. Bjørn Lomborg speaks out for those who believe that limited resources should be prioritised to tackle poverty and hunger.
Source: Devex
Inflation, COVID plunges 68 million into poverty in Asia
24/8/2023: An estimated 155.2 million people in developing Asia, which is 3.9% of the region's population, lived in extreme poverty as of last year. This figure was 67.8 million higher than it would have been without the pandemic and cost-of-living crises, according to a report published by the Asian Development Bank.
Source: DW
Fragility & poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: two sides of the same coin
17/8/2023: In the three decades since 1990, extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa has declined only slightly; whereas in South Asia and in East Asia and the Pacific regions the reduction has been very significant. Fragility, conflict, and violence, or more generally, the lack of peace and security, is a key explanation for the difference.
Source: Inter Press Service
How (and why) Nigeria should remove its fuel subsidy
5/5/2023: Nigeria spends a quarter of its budget on a regressive fuel subsidy. Removing it and distributing the savings can help the poorest. A defining moment for Nigerians could come after the swearing-in of Nigeria’s new president on 29 May.
Source: African Arguments
Richest 1% are winners in global wealth since 2020 crisis
16/1/2023: An Oxfam report finds that the richest 1% of the world’s population grabbed nearly two-thirds of all new wealth created since 2020. The number and wealth of billionaires has doubled over the last ten years.
Source: Oxfam International
UN rights expert calls for end to discrimination against poverty
7/11/2022: The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights believes that progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals depends on stamping out negative attitudes towards the millions of people worldwide who are struggling just to get by.
Source: UN News
Will Africa’s metals boom suffer the same curse as oil?
25/10/2022: African soil is rich in manganese, cobalt, nickel and lithium - crucial ingredients in clean energy technology. But the exploitation of resources in Africa has a long history of unequal distribution of wealth, corruption, environmental damage and rights violations.
Source: The East African
Fuel subsidy cuts won’t scratch Indonesian president
19/10/2022: Indonesia has remained stable in the weeks following an unpopular cut to the government’s fuel subsidy. As with all fuel subsidies, a large share of the benefits go to the middle-class. Poorer Indonesians would be better protected through targeted economic relief.
Source: East Asia Forum