Business and Poverty

Programme

Madingley Hall, Cambridge

November 2006

Will Day, Senior Associate,

Cambridge Programme for Industry
Extreme (or absolute) poverty:

Living in extreme poverty (less than $1 a day) -

means not being able to afford the most basic
necessities to ensure survival.

More than 1.2 billion people (NetAid)

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 Moderate poverty:

Moderate poverty, defined as earning

between $1 and $2 a day - enables
households to barely meet their basic
needs, but they must forgo many of the
things-education, health care-that many of us
take for granted. The smallest misfortune
(health issue, job loss, etc.) threatens
survival.

Another 3 billion people (Net Aid)

 Relative poverty:
Definitional problem. Implies a national
poverty threshold which varies by country
– say 25% of median income.

In 1999, the income of a U.S. family at the

poverty line was $17,020. This was
28.49% of the median income in the U.S.

In 2004 USA estimated that 12% below

national poverty line. 30 million people.
%age of relative poverty

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Measures of poverty?

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Global Environment Outlook 2000

 BILLIONS OF PEOPLE
19
50

0
2
4
6
8
10
19
60
19
70
19
80
19
90
20
00
20
10
20
20
20
30
Where’s the growth?

20
DEVELOPED
DEVELOPING

40
20
50
 Age Distribution of the World’s
Population
Less Developed
Regions
More Developed
Regions

80+
75-79
Male Female 70-74 Male Female
65-69
60-64
55-59
50-54
45-49
40-44
35-39
30-34
25-29
20-24
17-19
10-16
5-9
0-4
300 200 100 0 100 200 300 300 100 100 300

Source: United Nations, World Population Prospects: The 2002 Revision

(medium scenario), 2003.
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 Life Expectancy at Birth
2000-2005
Years

75.6
65.4 63.4
51.0

World More Developed Less Developed Least Developed

Regions Countries Countries

Note: More developed regions, according to the UN Population Division, include Australia, New Zealand,
Europe, North America, and Japan. Less developed regions include Africa, Asia (excluding Japan), and
Latin America and the Caribbean; 50 countries within these regions are classified as least developed.
Source: United Nations Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision, 2005.
WDR 2006
Childhood Mortality Among the
Poor
Poorest Economic Quintile
Deaths under age 5 per 1,000 births

Nigeria 2003 257

Burkina Faso 2003 206

Cameroon 2004 189

Malawi 2004 183

Kenya 2003 149

Ghana 2003 128

Bangladesh 2004 121

Lesotho 2004 114

Bolivia 2003 105

Philippines 2003 66

Source: ORC Macro, Demographic and Health Surveys.

 Childhood Vaccination
Coverage
Children 12-23 Months Receiving Full Basic Coverage
Percent 88 90 90 91
83 85
78
69 72

56

40

9 11
3 4

Nigeria 2003 Philippines 2003 Egypt 2005

Poorest Quintile 2nd Quintile 3rd Quintile 4th Quintile Richest Quintile

Source: ORC Macro, Demographic and Health Surveys.

World Development Report, 2006
 Availability of Doctors
1997-2004*
Physicians per 1,000 people

Cuba 5.9

Greece 4.4

U.S. 2.3

Jordan 2.0

China 1.6

Mexico 1.5

Bolivia 1.2

Bangladesh 0.3

Cambodia 0.2

Mali 0.1

* Data are for the most recent year available for each country.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators 2006.
 POPULATION IN BILLIONS
19
50
2 4 6 8 10
19
60

19
70

19
80

19
90

20
00

20
10
RURAL

20
URBAN DEVELOPED

20
URBAN DEVELOPING
 FIVE CHIEF FEATURES OF A
SLUM

• Lack of durable housing

• Insufficient living area
• Lack of access to clean water
• Inadequate sanitation
• Insecure tenure

Definition: UN Habitat
 A few numbers…….
• Indian cities to grow by 300 million
• China 400 million people to house
• 24,000 villages abandoned in 10 years
• 1,000 new cars registered daily in Beijing
• Kenya – running out of land
• Lagos – 14 million
• 180,000 people are being added to the
global urban population every day
Per Capita calorie consumption
Philippe Rekacewicz, UNEP/GRID-Arendal
GNP growth 1999 and 2000

Philippe Rekacewicz , World Bank 2001

Evolution of GNP in the major
regions of the world

UNEP: World Bank, 2001

Growing inequality
Foreign direct investment: Net inflows 2002

• Foreign direct investment: Net inflows

2002

World Bank Group. 2004,

WDR 2006
Adult Literacy Rate, 2000 - 2004

UNESCO 2005. Available online at http://www.uis.unesco.org

Income gaps between economies
70,000
Developing Regions
60,000 Industrial Regions
3 times
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000 7 times
10,000
0
95

05
10
15

30

50
00

20
25

35
40
45
19

20

20

20

20
20
20

20
20
20

20

20
….and within economies

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 Interesting fact…..

Over half of the world’s poor will be found in

middle income countries within the next
ten years.
NOAA-NGDC 1998,
Carbon Emissions Per Capita,
1999

World Resources Institute, 2001

Share of Woodfuels in National Energy
Consumption

World Resources Institute - PAGE, 2000

 UN Millennium
Development Goals
• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Improve maternal health
• Reduce child mortality
• Achieve universal primary education
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Ensure environmental sustainability

• Develop a global partnership for development