Facts

Almost half the world - over 3 billion people - live on less than $2.50 a day. 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).

Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. In Sub-Saharan Africa extreme poverty (living on less than $1.25 per day) went up from 41 percent in 1981 to 46 percent in 2001, which combined with growing population increased the number of people living in poverty from 231 million to 318 million
52% of pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa are anemic.

According to UNICEF 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. These children die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death. That is 1 child dying every 3 seconds. The silent killers are poverty, hunger, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes.

In spite of the scale of this daily/ongoing catastrophe, it rarely manages to achieve, much less sustain, prime-time headline coverage. Almost every second child (1 billion of the worlds 2.2 billion children) will grow up in poverty. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer: In 1960, 20% of the world’s people in the richest countries had 30 times the income of the poorest 20% in 1997, the number was 74 times as much. In 2005, the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for 76.6% of total private consumption, while the poorest fifth just 1.5%

A mere 12 percent of the world’s population uses 85 percent of its water, and these 12 percent do not live in the Third World. Three decades ago, the people in well-to-do countries were 30 times better off than those in countries where the poorest 20 percent of the world's people live. By 1998, this gap had widened to 82 times (up from 61 times since 1996). The wealth of the worlds three most wealthy individuals now exceeds the combined GDP of the 48 least developed countries

Sources: 2006 United Nations Human Development Report
-Maude Barlow, Water as Commodity - The Wrong Prescription, The Institute for Food and Development Policy, Backgrounder, Summer 2001, Vol. 7, No. 3
-The Independent, 'Birth rates must be curbed to win war on global poverty'
- Global Policy Forum
-Save the Children