Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcast on ending poverty in the world.

More than a quarter of the world's population lives in poverty. That's why erasing it is the first of

17 goals the UN has set in his 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Poverty eradication is also a priority for the EU.

But how do we go about this enormous challenge?

And are we well on track to achieve our goals?

Stay with us.

Let's start by throwing on some data.

In 2015, 736 million people, that's 10% of the world's population, lived in extreme poverty. That means surviving on less than 1.9 US dollars per day. In the same year, nearly half the world lived on less than $5.5 per day, the international poverty line for lower and upper middle

income countries. Now, appalling as they still are, if we compare these figures with figures

from the 1990s, we'd have to conclude that global poverty rates have been falling at an unprecedented

pace over the past two decades. but billions around the world are still struggling

to meet basic needs.

And unless there is a serious policy shift, about 6% of the world's population, most of

them in Africa, will remain in extreme poverty in 2030, which makes the achievement of the

first sustainable development goal a major global challenge.

Besides this, inequalities are also rising. Consider another figure. Today, the world's 26 richest people own as much as the 3.8 billion poorest people in the world. But what causes poverty?

Let's have a look.

Defined by the World Bank as pronounced deprivation of well-being, poverty has many sides

to it and multiple causes.

At regional and national level, nature and climate are key factors.

Areas affected by droughts or annual floods, for example, are more affected by

food insecurity and poverty levels. Conflict and insecurity, another two powerful drivers of poverty

...