Half the World Lives on Less Than $2 a Day.

• Position: Brief Article

At a time of unprecedented wealth for many countries, 2.8 billion people--almost half of the world's population--live on less than $2 a day, according to a new report released on 13 September. The World Bank's most detailed-ever assessment of global poverty, the World Development Report 2000/2001, says that 1.2 billion people live on the margins of society, subsisting on less than $1 a day. In high-income countries, fewer than 1 child in 100 dies before reaching the age of five, while in the poorest countries, that number is five times higher. In well-off countries, fewer than 5 per cent of children under five...