India Tops the List of Global Poor: UN Report

NEW DELHI:  India tops the list of countries with the largest share of global extreme poor though the poverty rate in Southeast Asia as a whole saw a substantial fall from 1990 to 2010, a new United Nations report said.

The poverty rate in southeast Asia fell from 45 percent in 1990 to 14 percent in 2010. Although poverty remains widespread in south Asia, progress in the region has been substantial, the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) Report 2014 said.

However, India had the largest share of global poor at 32.9 percent, more than countries like China, Nigeria and Bangladesh, the report, which was released in New Delhi, said.

India also had the highest child mortality rate worldwide in 2012 with 1.4 million children dying before reaching their fifth birthday, the report added.

In 2012, south Asia accounted for 2.1 million of the 6.6 million global deaths in children under the age of five, the report which tracks progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals said.

The eight MDGs, with a number of sub-targets covering a range of poverty, hunger, health, gender equality, education and environmental indicators, were consented by all countries as an outgrowth of the UN Millennium Summit in 2000, most of them having a due date in the year 2015.

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