Global Poverty Facts

• Half the world's population, nearly three billion people, live on less than US$2 a day.
• Over 800 million people do not get enough food to meet their energy needs.
• More than 840 million adults, of whom 538 million are women, are illiterate.
• In developed countries more than 100 million people live below the poverty line, more than 5 million people are homeless and 37 million are jobless.
• The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the poorest 48 nations (ie a quarter of the world's countries) is less than the wealth of the world's three richest people combined.
• Since 1960 child death rates in developing countries have halved, malnutrition rates have declined by a third, the proportion of children out of primary school has fallen from more than half to less than a quarter, access to safe water has almost doubled, from 36% to nearly 70% and the extension of basic immunization has saved the lives of three million children.