India accounted for the largest number of poor people in any country in 2012, but according to World Bank, its poverty rate was lowest among countries having large number of poor population. According to the report, the number of people living in extreme poverty around the world is likely to fall to under 10 per cent of the global population in 2015.

According to the report, the poverty rate in low-income countries averages 43 per cent in 2012, compared to 19 per cent in lower-middle-income countries. Yet lower middle-income countries are home to about half of the global poor, compared to a third for low-income countries. Part of the reason is that four nations with the largest populations were once classified as low-income but have moved into lower-middle-income category: China, India, Indonesia and Nigeria.

The report says, in South Asia, the poverty would fall to 13.5 per cent in 2015 compared to 18.8 per cent in 2012; Sub-Saharan Africa poverty would decline to 35.2 per cent in 2015 compared to 42.6 per cent in 2012. Kim said the continued major reductions in poverty were due to strong growth rates in developing countries in recent years, investments in people’s education, health and social safety nets that helped keep people from falling back into poverty.

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The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is observed on