Economic Fairness
Improving Access to Financial Services
In the Headlines
10 April 2012Meeting the Needs of the “Ultra-Poor”
With the news that the number of people living in extreme poverty decreased by 100 million between 2005 and 2008, the head of a leading microfinance institution argues that now is the time to pay more attention to needs of “the ultra-poor.” Writing for The Huffington Post, Susan Davis, president and CEO of BRAC USA, highlights the work Ford is doing to help the ultra-poor succeed in building assets and begin to move out of poverty. Those efforts are part of our Improving Access to Financial Services initiative.
More Information
- Learn more about Susan Davis's organization, BRAC USA
- Explore our Improving Access to Financial Services initiative
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What It Will Take to ‘Graduate’ 1.2 Billion People Out of Extreme Poverty
April 4, 2012 By Susan DavisA new report from the World Bank brings welcome news on the global poverty front.
Despite the worldwide recession of the late 2000s, the total number of people living in extreme poverty has actually gone down in recent years—so much, in fact, that we’ve reached the first of the UN’s eight Millennium Development Goals five years ahead of schedule, a startling achievement. The number living in “extreme poverty” decreased by 100 million between 2005 and 2008.
As of four years ago, “only” 1.29 billion people lived below $1.25 a day. Preliminary data shows the trend continuing in 2010.
That’s cause for celebration, for sure. But as Bill Abrams, president of the Trickle Up, a US-based nonprofit targeting those living in extreme poverty, points out in a recent letter to The New York Times, “giant numbers and statistical conceits can conceal as much as they reveal.” The World Bank study defines extreme poverty as living on an average income of $1.25 per day, which actually lumps together a fairly wide spectrum.