Addressing inequality and poverty under COVID-19 – Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020 – Reversals of Fortune published by World Bank Group (2020)
“Poverty reduction has suffered its worst setback in decades, after nearly a quarter century of steady global declines in extreme poverty. Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2020: Reversals of Fortune provides new data on and analysis of the causes and consequences of this reversal and identifies policy principles that countries can use to counter it. The report presents new estimates of the impacts of COVID-19 (coronavirus) on global poverty and shared prosperity. Harnessing fresh data from frontline surveys and economic simulations, it shows that pandemic-related job losses and deprivation worldwide are hitting already-poor and vulnerable people hard, while also partly changing the profile of global poverty by creating millions of “new poor.” Original analysis included in the report shows that the new poor are more urban, better educated, and less likely to work in agriculture than those living in extreme poverty before COVID-19. These results are important for targeting policies to safeguard lives and livelihoods. The report discusses early evidence that the pandemic is deepening income inequality, threatening inclusive economic recovery and future growth. It shows how some countries are deploying agile, adaptive policies to reverse the crisis, protect the most vulnerable, and promote a resilient recovery.
The 2020 Poverty and Shared Prosperity report breaks new ground by jointly analyzing three factors whose convergence is driving the current crisis and will extend its impact into the future: a pandemic (COVID19 and the associated global economic recession, which are reversing poverty abatement trends rapidly), armed conflict (whose effects have been steadily building in recent years), and climate change (a slowly accelerating risk that will potentially drive millions into poverty). According to updated estimates included in the report, COVID-19 is expected to push some 100 million people into extreme poverty during 2020 alone. Armed conflict is also driving increases in poverty in some countries and regions. In the Middle East and North Africa, for example, extreme poverty rates nearly doubled between 2015 and 2018, from 3.8 percent to 7.2 percent, spurred by the conflicts in the Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of Yemen. This report presents new research that helps explain the prolonged impoverishing impact of conflict and suggests priorities for prevention and mitigation. New estimates commissioned for this report indicate that up to 132 million people may fall into poverty by 2030 due to the manifold effects of climate change. Although the worst economic and welfare effects lie further in the future, in some settings, poverty is already intertwined with vulnerability to climate-related threats such as flooding and vector-borne diseases. New analysis featured in the report focuses on the convergence of poverty and flood risks, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa…”
