The Facts
According to a new report from the Center for Global Development (CGD), titled Scenarios for Future Global Growth to 2050, extreme global poverty could be eradicated by 2050.
The GCD’s forecast — which defines those in extreme poverty as anyone living on less than $2.15 a day – predicts the share of the world population experiencing it will fall from about 8% in 2022 to below 2% by 2050. In Africa, where the proportion of extreme poverty is highest, it is set to fall from 29% to 7%.
The Spin
Narrative A
Eradicating extreme poverty is not only theoretically achievable — it is within our sights. With a holistic approach focused on equity, poverty across the globe can be greatly reduced. We have already seen a significant reduction in poverty rates and, with a justice-based effort, we can eradicate poverty for good.
Narrative B
While the global community has done a great job of quantifiably reducing poverty levels, the work is just beginning. Extreme poverty is a very complex issue that is highly concentrated in regions that are difficult to project. There are so many confounding factors that it is challenging to envision extreme poverty ending any time soon.