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| Saturday, 18 September 2004 |
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Two-thirds of South Asians living in poverty: ADB NEW DELHI, Friday (AFP) Two-thirds of South Asians are living in poverty and only a redistribution of the benefits of economic growth will lift them out of the rut, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official said. "On the basis of a poverty line of two dollars a day, which is no generous standard, well over two-thirds of people in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan live in poverty," said Geert van der Linden, vice president of the Manila-based ADB. "It is clear the struggle against poverty in Asia will be protracted. Policy makers must focus on generating high rates of sustainable growth and also ensure the benefits of that growth are spread to all parts of society," he told foreign correspondents in New Delhi. South Asia, he added, was also among the weakest performers in the Asian region when it came to reduction of infant mortality and malnutrition. "While the under-five infant mortality rates in 2000 were around 40 and 60 per thousand in East Asia and Southeast Asia, respectively, they were as high as 94 per thousand in South Asia," van der Linden added. He said one positive development was that primary school enrolments in India and Bangladesh had increased in recent years, although youth literacy rates were still far behind East and Southeast Asia. "We are hopeful that in time these achievements will lead to significant improvements in youth literacy rates in these two countries," said van der Linden. He added that South Asian governments needed to raise productivity in the agricultural sector in particular as the majority of the poor lived in the rural areas. "Simply put, economic growth should not bypass the poor." Van der Linden said increasing governments' investments in basic education and healthcare was also a key factor in battling poverty. "The large countries of South Asia spend about 50 to 75 dollars per person on health. This is much less than per capita health expenditures of other countries in the region, such as Malaysia which spends more than 300 dollars," he added. |
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