The best news in the world: we have made real progress towards ending extreme poverty | Jim Yong Kim

To achieve our aim of eliminating extreme poverty by 2030 investment in health and education, and in the collection of robust data, must be our priorities

The dramatic fall in global poverty over the past two decades is the best news in the world today. For the first time ever, the percentage of people living in extreme poverty - now defined as living on less than US$1.90 a day - is projected to fall below 10% this year, to 9.6% of the world's population.

Unprecedented economic growth, especially in China, has allowed hundreds of millions of people to escape poverty. But to effectively end extreme poverty by 2030 - the goal of the World Bank Group and our 188 member countries - our aspirations must be higher still. Many tough decisions will have to be made before we can become the generation that ends extreme poverty.

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