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Updated October 17th, 2020 at 16:32 IST

International Day for Eradication of Poverty 2020: Here is the theme for this year

Every year October 17 is celebrated as the 'International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.' Here is the theme for this year as prescribed by the UN

Reported by: Disha Kandpal
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Every year, October 17 is observed as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. On this day people across the world spread the message of peace and love. Poverty has been one of the greatest challenges of modern world. A research done by The World Bank has revealed that, as of 2020 around 1.89 billion people or nearly 36% of the world's population, is living in extreme poverty. In addition to this, nearly half of the population in developing countries have been living on less than $1.25 a day.

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What is poverty and how is it measured?

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A report on World vision.org has stated that, although poverty is often discussed in terms of dollar amounts, quality of life is also an important part of the conversation. A life of poverty is a life of struggle and deprivation. Children living in poverty lack access to quality education and don’t get enough nutrition, thus diminishing both their economic opportunities and life expectancy. Impoverished families often send their children to work, as a result, child labour becomes an increasingly difficult challenge to overcome.

In impoverished countries many people lack access to clean water and sanitation, hence, many still die to preventable diseases due to unhygienic conditions of living. Historically, poverty was calculated based on a person’s income and how much he or she can buy with that income, but it is more holistic than that. Poverty data is measured by each country’s government, by conducting household surveys of their own population.

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COVID-19 pandemic and global poverty

The World Bank report also states that the COVID-19 pandemic has threatened to reverse decades of progress made in the fight against global poverty and income inequalities. The after-effects of this pandemic will also jeopardize the future of a generation of children. While the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is still unknown, the World Bank has estimated that an additional 88 million to 115 million people will fall into extreme poverty in 2020. With this, the global total will rise to as many as 150 million by 2021.

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Poverty like many other issues is not a singular one, it has been the cause of hunger and deaths in many developing nations of the world. The Children and youth account for two-thirds of the world’s poor, and women represent a majority in most regions. Extreme poverty is mostly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa with about 40% of the region’s people living on less than $1.90 a day.

According to the World Bank, many people in the middle east have become victims of poverty as a result of the incessant political conflict in the world. Extreme poverty rates nearly doubled in the Middle East and North Africa between 2015 and 2018. It went up from 3.8% to 7.2%, mostly because of crises in Syria and Yemen.

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International Day for the Eradication of Poverty Theme in 2020

In 1992, the United Nations (UN) decided to dedicate October 17 as 'International Day for the Eradication of Poverty' in honour of Joseph Wresinski, the founder of International Movement ATD Fourth World. The United Nations has revealed on its official website that the theme for International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2020 is "Acting together to achieve social and environmental justice for all”. UN has stated that this theme addresses "the challenge of achieving social and environmental justice for all”.

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Published October 17th, 2020 at 16:32 IST

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