Thematic report on MDG-1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

The financial and economic crisis of the past two years has deepened the challenge of poverty reduction even further by slowing growth in many low and middle-income economies. Efforts to provide full and decent employment for all must be revitalized. Progress in achieving targets on poverty and employment has been uneven.

Sustained and accelerated progress is needed if the employment target of MDG 1 is to be reached by 2015. While there has been global improvement in poverty reduction over the last decade, the economic crisis has brought a generalized setback in progress towards the attainment of the MDGs. Between 1997 and 2007, the global number of
working poor living with their families in extreme poverty had fallen by more than 285 million, or from 38 to 22 per cent. Decent work is a fundamental factor not only to fight poverty but also income inequalities, as a great proportion of households’ incomes are
generated in the labour market (about 70 per cent in Latin America). This report was prepared for the review of the MDGs by the UN General Assembly in 2010.