'''Extreme poverty''' is the most severe state of [[poverty]], where people cannot meet basic needs for survival, such as [[food]], [[water]], [[clothing]], [[shelter]], [[sanitation]], [[education]] and [[health care]].<ref>Sachs, Jeffrey (2005). ''The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time'' Penguin Press Hc ISBN 1-59420-045-9</ref> To determine the number of extreme poor around the world, the [[World Bank Group|World Bank]] characterizes extreme poverty as living on US $1 or less per day, and estimates that 1.1 billion people currently live under these conditions. This $1 a day figure has been adjusted for [[purchasing power parity]],<ref>{{cite web| title = Glossary| publisher = The World Bank| url=http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/beyond/global/glossary.html#52}}</ref> which attempts to eliminate differences in costs of goods and services between countries to present a more meaningful comparison but has not been adjusted for inflation for over 15 years, leaving a useful measure in the early 1990s as almost worthless. Eradication of extreme poverty and [[hunger]] by 2015 is a [[Millennium Development Goals|Millennium Development Goal]]. Economists and activists consider epidemic diseases ([[AIDS]], [[malaria]], [[tuberculosis]]) as crucial factors in and consequences of extreme poverty.

Extreme poverty is most common in [[least developed countries]], especially parts of [[Africa]], [[Asia]], [[Central America]], etc. The proportion of people in extreme poverty fell from 59 to 19 percent during the 20th century and is now the lowest in history.

{{Wikisourcepar2|wikisource:The Despouy Report on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty|The Despouy Report on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty}}

==Statistics==
*More than 1.5 billion people around the world live on less than a $1 a day.
*Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday.
*More than 50 percent of Africans suffer from water-related diseases such as cholera and infant diarrhea.
*More than 800 million people go to bed hungry every day, 300 million are children.
*Of these 300 million children, only eight percent are victims of famine or other emergency situations. More than 90 percent are suffering long-term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiency.
*Every 3.8 seconds someone dies of hunger in the world, 75 percent of those are children.
*Four out of every ten people in the world don't have access even to a simple latrine.
*Declining soil fertility, land degradation, and the [[AIDS]] pandemic have led to a 23 percent decrease in food production per capita in the last 25 years even though population has increased dramatically.
*A woman living in sub-Saharan Africa has a 1 in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy. This compares with a 1 in 3,700 risk for a woman from North America.<ref>{{cite web| title = Fast Facts: The Faces of Poverty| publisher = UN Millennium Project| url=http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/press/press2.htm}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Millennium Villages Project]]
*[[List of countries by percentage of population living in poverty]]
*[[Income inequality metrics]]
*[[Make Poverty History]]
*[[Millennium Promise]]
*[[Poverty line]]
*[[Poverty reduction]]
*[[The End of Poverty]]
*[[Absolute poverty]]

==References==
<references/>
*Jones, Gareth Stedman (2004) ''An End to Poverty?'' Profile Books LTD ISBN 1-86197-729-8

==External links==
*[http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/povmeas/papers/elastap4.html Is There Such a Thing as an Absolute Poverty Line Over Time?]
* [http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/papers/relabs.htm New Light on the Behavior of Poverty Lines Over Time]
*[http://www.whiteband.org/ WhiteBand.org - Global Call to Action Against Poverty]
* [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=000E4C4C-F093-1304-ABA283414B7F0000 Scientific American Magazine (September 2005 Issue) Can Extreme Poverty Be Eliminated?]
* [http://www.lilmdgs.org/ Lil' MDGs - Fighting World Hunger and Poverty]

[[Category:Poverty]]

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