Our Mission

In much of the world today, the incomes of the poor are growing.

Shared prosperity, defined as the average annual growth in income or consumption of the poorest 40 percent (the bottom 40) within each country, was positive in 70 out of the 91 economies for which data is available. In 49 out of these 70 economies, the incomes of the bottom 40 grew faster than the average. Read More.

Globally, extreme poverty has rapidly declined. New poverty estimates by the World Bank suggest that the number of extremely poor people — those who live on $1.90 a day or less — has fallen from 1.9 billion in 1990 to about 736 million in 2015. Read More.

There has been remarkable progress in reducing mortality among children and young adolescents in the past several decades. Between 1990 and 2017, the global under-five mortality rate dropped by 58 percent from 93 deaths per 1,000 live births to 39 deaths per 1,000 live births. During the last 17 years, the reduction in under-five mortality rates accelerated to an average 4% annual reduction, compared to an average 1.9% annual reduction between 1990 and 2000. Read More.

Over 75% of young children in upper-middle- and high-income countries attend pre-primary schools, compared with one in three in lower-middle-income countries. One in five children in low-income countries is enrolled in pre-primary education.

Children with pre-primary education have better attendance and achievement in primary school. Read more.