This “heat map” gives some sense of global poverty, by shading the proportions of the population living on $700 per year or less.
The panel at the top left shows the really important piece of information: global poverty is down, over the last 25 years, by the most substantial amount in history. Anyone who tells you that things are getting worse on the planet is simply not telling you the truth.
The panel at the bottom left shows that most of the improvements have come in Asia. There’s still more poor people there, but a small proportion than there used to be.
The shading on the map shows the remaining problem arras. Not surprisingly, this is mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Having said that, there are brighter spots dotted all over Africa. Maps like this used to be fairly solid all across that region.
This accompanied an article entitled “Slow Growth Clouds Fight Against Poverty” that appeared in the January 20 issue of The Wall Street Journal.
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