As per the report almost 60% of people who defecate in open also reside in India
South Asia, of which India is the largest and most populous country, has fared worse than other Asian regions in most of the parameters (Photo: AP)
New Delhi: One third of the extreme poor global population reside in India, a latest UN report has suggested.
According to the UN Millennium Development Goals report India has also recorded the highest number of under-five deaths in the world with 1.4 million children dying before reaching their fifth birthday. “The overwhelming majority of people living on less than $1.25 a day belong to two regions including Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa,” said the report, adding that in 2010, one third of the world’s 1.2 billion extreme poor lived in India alone.
China, despite much progress in poverty reduction, ranked second, and was home to about 13 per cent of the global extreme poor. Nigeria (9 per cent), Bangladesh (5 per cent) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (5 per cent) followed. Nearly two thirds of the extreme poor lived in those five countries in 2010. Significantly, almost one third of all global maternal deaths are seen to be happening in two populous countries including India, with an estimated 50,000 maternal deaths (17 per cent), and Nigeria, with an estimated 40,000 maternal deaths (14 per cent).
As per the report almost 60 per cent of the people who defecate in open also reside in India, followed by Nigeria.
In 2012, 1 billion people still resorted to open defecation. “Open defecation is most prevalent in Southern Asia, Oceania and sub-Saharan Africa. The vast majority - 82 per cent - of people practicing open defecation now live in middle-income, populous countries, such as India and
Nigeria,” the report further added.
While, the UN secretary-general Ban-ki-Moon said that MDGs have made a profound difference in people’s lives with the global poverty getting halved five years ahead of the 2015 timeframe, more needs to be done to accelerate progress. “We need bolder and focused action where significant gaps and disparities exits,” he said. The good news is that ninety per cent of children in developing regions now enjoy primary education, and disparities between boys and girls in enrolment have narrowed.
According to the report Southern Asia region has seen the greatest increase in youth literacy rates between 1990 and 2011 as it went from 60 to 80 per cent. Also, the literacy rate among young women is growing at a faster pace than that of young men,” it noted. Remarkable gains have also been made in the fight against malaria and tuberculosis, along with improvements in all health indicators. The likelihood of a child dying before age five has been nearly cut in half over the last two decades. That means that about 17,000 children are saved every day. The target of halving the proportion of people who lack access to improved sources of water has also been met.
Minority affairs minister Najma Heptulla who released the report, said its findings present a challenge to the government and that they would be able to surmount it. “Good days will come,” she said. “We don’t have to be proud of what we have done. Poverty is the biggest challenge... I am sure when the next report comes, we will have done much better,” she said.
( Source : dc )
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