World Bank Says Global Extreme Poverty Dropped in 2005-2008
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The World Bank said today that the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day declined between 2005 and 2008.
An estimated 1.29 billion people in 2008 lived in extreme poverty, equal to 22 percent of the population of the developing world, the World Bank said in an e-mailed release. By contrast, 1.94 billion people in 1981 were living below $1.25 a day. The reduction over the period “marks a first since the Bank began monitoring extreme poverty,” it said.