【英语财经】全球逾10亿人每天生活费不足1.25美元

The last three decades have seen unprecedented progress when it comes to reducing extreme poverty around the world--but there's still an awful lot more to do.

Roughly 721 million people were lifted out of extreme poverty -- defined internationally as living on less than $1.25 a day -- between 1981 and 2010, according to a new report by the World Bank released Thursday. The United Nations' Millennium Development Goal of halving the share of people in extreme poverty between 1990 and 2015--an aim set at a summit in 2000--was reached in 2010, five years early.

But, as the World Bank points out, that still leaves roughly 1.2 billion people completely destitute, including about 400 million children. One of every three extremely poor people is a child under the age of 13. (To put all this in perspective, America's own poverty line amounts to about $60 a day for a family of four -- as the Economist noted in June. People around the world in 'extreme poverty' tend to lack enough food to meet basic physical and mental needs.)

The World Bank report zeros in on the relative lack of progress in the world's 35 'low income' countries -- places like Bangladesh, Chad, Haiti and Kenya. Progress in these countries will need to pick up if international goals to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030 are to be reached.

Judging from the daily incomes of the extremely poor around the world, extreme poverty is getting less deep. Poverty for middle- and high-income countries -- everywhere from Pakistan, Ukraine and the Czech Republic to Chile and Jordan -- fell by more than 50% since 1981.

But when you look closely at the recent progress in the developing world, much of it is due to China and, to a lesser extent, India, whose amped-up economic growth in recent years reduced their poverty rates. By contrast, extreme poverty in the 35 'low income' countries -- 26 are in Africa -- fell by less than 33%. Indeed, the number of extremely poor people in low-income countries actually rose by 103 million between 1981 and 2010. And around half of the children in low-income countries are in extreme poverty.

Aside from China and India, 'individuals living in extreme poverty [in the developing world] today appear to be as poor as those living in extreme poverty 30 years ago,' the World Bank said.

在减少全球极端贫穷人口数量方面，过去30年取得了前所未有的进展，但要做的工作还有很多。

Getty Images国际上对极端贫穷的定义为每天的生活费不足1.25美元。据世界银行(World Bank)周四发布的新报告显示，1981年至2010年间，有大约7.21亿人摆脱了极端贫穷。联合国在2000年的一个峰会上确定了千年发展目标(Millennium Development Goal)，在1990年至2015年期间，把极端贫穷人口数量占总人口的比例降到一半。这个目标在2010年提前五年得以实现。

但正如世界银行所指出的，即便如此，目前极端贫穷人口数量仍有大约12亿，其中包括大约4亿儿童。每三名极端贫穷的人中，就有一名是不到13岁的儿童。（相比较来看，《经济学人》(Economist)杂志6月份指出，美国自己规定的贫困标准是一个四口之家每天生活费大约60美元。全球极端贫穷的人群通常缺乏足够的食物来满足基本的身体和精神需求。）

世界银行的报告着重指出全球有35个国家在减少贫穷人口方面相对缺乏进展，这些国家包括孟加拉国、乍得、海地和肯尼亚。如果国际社会要实现2030年前消除极端贫穷人口的目标，这些国家需要加快脱贫的步伐。

从全球极端贫穷人口的每日收入判断，极端贫穷的程度有所降低。自1981年以来，中等收入和高收入国家的贫穷人口数量减少了50%以上，这些国家包括巴基斯坦、乌克兰、捷克、智利、约旦等国。

但如果你仔细研究发展中国家近来取得的进展，中国功不可没，印度也不可忽视，尽管印度的贡献不及中国。这两个国家近年来经济加速增长，帮助降低了贫困率。相比之下，35个低收入国家的极端贫穷人口仅减少了不到33%。在这35个国家中，非洲占了26个。事实上，1981年至2010年期间，低收入国家的极端贫穷人口数量增加了1.03亿。低收入国家中的儿童约有一半都属于极端贫穷。

世界银行说，除中国和印度以外，目前发展中国家处在极端贫穷水平的个人，其贫穷程度似乎和30年前的极端贫穷人口相当。