Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. New poverty data (preliminary) show that the proportion of people living in extreme poverty fell from 41.7% (1.8 billion people) in 1990 to 25.7% (1.4 billion) in 2005, and at this pace the MDG target of halving extreme poverty would be met at the global level by 2015.
The East Asia and Pacific region has made dramatic progress in reducing poverty—from 56% in 1990 to 18% in 2005. South Asia has cut its poverty rate from 51% to 40%. Sub-Saharan Africa has not shown a consistent downward trend in poverty reduction over time and the number of poor individuals has increased substantially.
There are serious shortfalls in fighting hunger and malnutrition, which has long been the “forgotten MDG.” The prevalence of undernourishment (percent of the population that is undernourished) has only declined from 20% in 1992 to 16% in 2004. The recent hike in food prices is eroding the limited gains in reducing hunger.