NUMBER OF EXTREMELY POOR INCREASES

Tert.am
11:04 06.10.09

The World Bank forecasts that the number of the poor and the extremely
poor in Europe and Central Asia are worse this year.

According to the World Bank’s criteria, people are considered poor
if the spend less then 5 USD per day, and are considered extremely
poor if they spend less than 2.5 USD per day.

According to the World Bank, the economic slowdown has made the
rich less rich, and has pushed the poor below the poverty line. The
population of Eastern Europe and Central Asia will suffer economic
difficulties most of all. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the
number of poor will reach 160 million this year.

In the pre-crisis period, the bank had forecast this number to be
30 million. The forecast for the number of the extremely poor also
changed: 39 million instead of 34 million.

The forecasts for the near future for this region, unfortunately,
don’t provide any hope. The number of the poor in 2010 will drop to
150 million maximum, while the number of the extremely poor, in a
practical sense, will not change.