Poverty and the United Nations
While in 1990 30% of people lived in extreme poverty, the number has decreased to 10% in 2015 – over 730 million people. However, the global pandemic is negatively affecting humanitarian development, the UNU[1] having estimated that the percentage of poor people could increase by 8% - approximately half a billion individuals – due to COVID-19. Indeed, 55% of the world does not have access to social protection, implying health problems or loss of employment could substantially contribute to a rise in poverty.
Where is poverty strongest?
The highest poverty rate can be found in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, these regions constituting 80% of poor people. The UN estimates that an additional 32 million people in Southern Asia and 26 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, will succumb into poverty because of the pandemic.
Poverty is highest in rural regions, where it equals 17.2% of the population. “8% of employed workers and their families worldwide lived in extreme poverty in 2018”[2], indicating one of the issue’s causes is underpayment and – possibly – exploitation.
Besides, 20% of children live in extreme poverty, and 50% of poor individual are under 18. Young workers are twice as likely to fall into this problem than adult employees.
The areas most affected by climate change are also impoverishing communities, having caused a $23.6 billion economic loss spread across 63 countries in 2018.
The Sustainable Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goal n° 1 aims at eradicating poverty by 2030 through several objectives that target both absolute and relative poverty (these have been slightly rephrased):
“1.1 By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people, measured as living on less than $1.25 a day.
1.2 Reduce at least by half the proportion of individuals living in poverty according to national definitions.
1.3 Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, and achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable.
1.4 Ensure equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate technology and financial services, including microfinance.
1.5 Reduce exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters.
1.A Ensure significant mobilization of resources, including through enhanced development cooperation, to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty.
1.B Create national, regional, and international policy frameworks, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions”.
However, even before COVID-19, it had been anticipated that 6% of the world would not have exited the poverty cycle yet by 2030.
Overview of UN Action
The UN entities most involved in the achievement of SDG 1 are the following: United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, UN Children’s Fund, International Monetary Fund, UN Global Compact, UNESCO, UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction.
In 2017, the United Nations held the “High-Level Political Forum”, whose theme was "Eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity in a changing world". Governmental, intergovernmental, and non-governmental bodies participated. The conference drew clear links among the Sustainable Development Goals, as accomplishing SDG1 involves action in SDGs: 2 (ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition), 3 (health and well-being for all), 5 (empowering women and girls), 9 (construction of infrastructure, promotion of sustainable industrialisation and agriculture)[3].
The United Nations have established a “COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund” to aid low- and middle-income member states and support the most vulnerable communities.
Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa
From 1990 to 2015, the percentage of people living below the poverty line (less than 1.90USD per day) has fallen from 54% to 41%. However, due to a substantial population increase, the number of poor people has increased from 278 million to 413 million.
While the number of employed poor people stands at 7% around the world, it rises to 38% in Sub-Saharan Africa (2018 figures). Only 13% of the population is covered by social protections programs.
Besides, climate-related disasters have increased over the past years, with a staggering 1.3 lives lost because of climate-related and geophysical disaster, which mainly entail floods, storms, droughts, heatwaves. “More than 90% of internationally reported deaths due to disaster occur in low- and middle-income countries”[4], which likely includes Sub-Saharan Africa.
“27 of the world’s poorest countries are in Sub-Saharan. 70% of the world’s poorest people live in Africa. According to the World Data Lab, 42 African countries are in poverty, and in 16 of those countries, the poverty rate is rising”[5].
The increase in Sub-Saharan poverty is also caused by hunger, as 256million Africans are hungry, compared to 212 million in 2014.
In the region, the strongest causes of poverty seem to be war, genocide, and famine. Besides these, we can formulate a distinction between the symptoms and causes of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa:
SYMTPOMS
Lack of shelter
Limited access to clean water resources
Food insecurity
Lack of access to health care
Government corruption
Poor infrastructure
Limited or dwindling natural resources
CAUSES
Deficiencies in:
Education
Knowledge
Aspiration
Diligence
Values
[1] United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research [2] https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/poverty/ [3] https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/hlpf/2017 [4] https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2019/goal-01/#:~:text=More%20than%20one%20third%20of,less%20than%20%241.90%20a%20day&text=In%20fact%2C%208%20per%20cent,over%20the%20past%2025%20years. [5] https://www.compassion.com/poverty/poverty-in-africa.htm
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