Poverty falling in Asia, rising in Africa.

New York -- Progress has been made on the United Nations Millenium goal to eradicate extreme poverty. Poverty rates are falling in Asia while millions more people have sunk deep into poverty in sub-Sahara Africa where the poor are getting poorer.

Proportion of people living on less than $1 a day, 1990 and 2001
(Percentage)

                                    1990         2001

Sub-Saharan Africa                  44.6         46.4
Southern Asia                       39.4         29.9
Eastern Asia                        33.0         16.6
South-Eastern Asia & Oceania        19.6         10.2
Latin America & the Caribbean       11.3          9.5
CIS countries                        0.4          5.3
North Africa & Western Asia          2.2          2.7
Transition countries of South-
  Eastern Europe                     0.2          2.0
Developing regions                  27.9         21.3

Note: Table made from bar graph