World Poverty Rates Have Collapsed

by John Goodman

Between 1970 and 2006, the global poverty rate has been cut by nearly three quarters. The percentage of the world population living on less than $1 a day went from 26.8 percent in 1970 to 5.4 percent in 2006. Over the period:

• The South Asian poverty rate fell by 86 percent.
• The Latin American poverty rate fell by 73 percent.
• The Middle Eastern poverty rate fell by 39 percent.
• The African poverty rate fell by more than 20 percent.