“Living in Extreme Poverty,” by Shannon Reilly and Marcy E. Mullins, USA Today, 29 April, p. 1A.
Simple page 1 graphic from USA Today makes point I use in book: more has been accomplished to reduce global poverty in last couple of decades thanks to spread of global economy than in previous century. Pulling in such New Core heavyweights as India and China and Brazil means serious poverty reduction in the world, both as a percent of total population and in terms of absolute numbers.
40% of the world population in 1981 lived on less than $1/day. That number is 21% in 2001. The absolute number of truly poor in 1981 was 1.5 billion. That number is now down to 1.1 billion.
Those are lives extended and improved. Those are premature deaths (especially the kids) avoided. That is globalization saving lives, pure and simple.
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