Average gross national income (GNI) per capita of about 3 billion people from as much as 50 countries around the world was $1,051 – just above the World Bank’s new country classification of low-income economies $995 for 2018-2019.
The poorest-50 slot is ominously crammed by nations from Sub-Saharan Africa – all poorest-10 with a population of 219.6 million people and average GNI per capita of $397 subsist from this region as well as 18 of them in the poorest-20.
A total of 674.3 million people from 28 countries are living below the World Bank’s minimum GNI benchmark of $995. In terms of population, Ethiopia, DR Congo, and Tanzania are the most effected economies in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Even though the number of people living under extreme poverty ($1.90/day as defined by the World Bank) has declined from 1.9 billion in 1990 to 736 million in 2015 – the proportion of the people in Sub-Saharan Africa is on the rise.
Nigeria is the largest economy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its economy relies heavily on oil, the main source of government revenues and foreign exchange earnings. But yet the three-fifth of the country’s population lives in extreme poverty.
Oxfam study discovered that in the last year, the wealth of the world’s richest increased by $900 billion at a time when 3.4 billion people – mostly in Africa – have barely escaped the extreme poverty and are living on $5.5/day.
Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos – the Forbes richest man in world – had fortune of $112 billion in 2018. With this abundance, Bezos can alone sponsor the annual health budget of 110 million people in Ethiopia for 100 years.
In India where people lack basic health needs, Mukesh Ambani – Forbes 19th richest in the world – is the wealthiest Indian who dwells in a 570 feet building. His $1 billion luxurious residence is the most expensive private house in the world.
Not much has been changed in Sub-Saharan Africa over the last 40 years as only 12% of the adults born in Sub-Saharan Africa during 1980s are more educated than their parents, while 65% of the population still has no access to electricity and 37% lacks improved water source.
And the life of the people in the region is bound to deteriorate further. According to IMF, most of the 23 countries that are either in debt distress or at the high risk of suffering a debt crisis are located in Sub-Saharan Africa.
South Asia is the other shook region, despite much improved GNI per capita. The average GNI per capita of more than 1.7 billion people in three most populated South-Asian countries – Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India – is only $1,623. All three are ranked 38th, 41st, and 44th respectively in the poorest economies of the world.
In Bangladesh, many young women in garment factories suffer from repeated urinary tract infections because they are not allowed to go to toilet during working hours. Even in the much-enlightened country like the United States, Oxfam study found that poultry workers were wearing nappies as they were not getting permission for going to the toilet.
Women in Bangladesh are paid much lower wages as well. On average, the lifetime wages of an ordinary Bangladeshi woman is equated with just over 4 day’s earnings of a CEO from one of the top-5 companies the garment sector.
Calling public-private partnership (PPP) in Pakistan ‘a dangerous diversion’, the poverty alleviation group criticized Punjab province government for stop building new public schools in a country where 24 million children are out of school.
In Pakistan PPP schools, 9 out of 10 teachers are females. The mean wage of female teachers, in PPP education sector, was one-fifth of a public school – $52 – which is even less than half the minimum wage in Pakistan.
Deliberated as the largest growing economy in the world, India witnessed a rise of 39% in the wealth of top 1% of its population, which now holds 51% of the country’s total wealth – according to Oxfam’s ‘Public Good or Private Wealth?’.
Billionaires in India rose by 18, to take the billionaires’ tally to 119 in 2018 – ascending their collective wealth from $325.5 billion in 2017 to $440.1 billion in 2018. India is estimated to add 70 new millionaires every day.
Highlighting social inequalities in India, Oxfam said that the low-caste women have much lower life expectancy – almost 15 years – less than the upper-caste women. Those from upper-caste upbringings detest using the same eating utensils as those from low-caste backgrounds.
The levels of public spending on health in the world’s largest democracy are some of the lowest in the world as well. Indeed, the poorest Indian states have higher infant mortality rates than those in Sub-Saharan Africa – despite the fact that the country is one of the top destinations for medical tourism.
Oxfam noted that investing 2% GDP in health and care services could generate 1–3% growth in employment opportunities. By doing so, China created 24 million jobs – 13% more than it would have generated through investments in construction industry.
In its last year’s report, the confederation of 20 independent charitable organizations supposed that over the next 20 years, 500 of the world’s richest people will inherit $2.4 trillion to their heirs – a value that exceeds India’s GDP.