Top 10 Countries in the world Affected by Poverty, 2017

The mission of the United Nations to end extreme poverty is unlikely to be met, largely due to the growth in food insecurity in developing countries, according to the World Poverty Clock, a data lab created by a Vienna-based NGO last year. Based on targets set by the UN almost twenty years ago, about 83 million people should have been lifted out of poverty by now. While the report puts Nigeria, with 46.7Pct of its population living in poverty, at the top, Ethiopia is ranked as the fourth most poverty stricken country in the world. Yet Ethiopia is the only country among the top ten that is on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

Despite being one of the most poverty-affected countries, Ethiopia has showed progress in fighting poverty, according to a study by the Central Statistics Agency released in 2016, which revealed that about 5.6 million people had been lifted out of poverty over the preceding five years. The study puts the number people living below the poverty line at 23.9Pct of the population. However, that number, which accounts for 23.9 million people, was computed based on the assumption that an individual can survive if she/he earns a minimum of ETB20 a day (ETB600 a month) to cover all his/her expenses including food, rent, transport, cloth, and energy. But when the international poverty line of US1.25 a day (around ETB1,000 per month) per individual is used for computation, the number of people below the poverty line jumps to about 65 to 70Pct of the population (65 to 70 million people), according to a study by Alemayehu Geda (PhD), an economist.

^{Source: World Poverty Clock}

6th Year • July 16 – Aug. 15 2018 • No. 64