World Bank Sees Progress on Development Goals
Posted by admin on September 9th, 2010 at 03:02am
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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
The World Bank says most developing countries have made important progress toward the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.
Last week the international lender released its yearly World Development Indicators. Hundreds of indicators are used to measure progress in areas such as education, health, poverty, the environment and trade.
One of the Millennium Development Goals is to reduce by half the number of people living in extreme poverty by twenty fifteen.
Out of eighty-seven countries with data available, forty-nine seem likely to reach that goal. “Extreme poverty” is defined as earning less than one dollar a day.
Another goal is to make education available to all young children. The report shows that in two thousand seven, seven out of ten children lived in developing countries that had met or were close to meeting that goal.
Also, thirty-nine countries have achieved or are likely to achieve the goal of reducing child death rates. The target is a two-thirds reduction by twenty fifteen.
And the report from the World Bank shows the first reduction in AIDS-related deaths.
But even with all the progress, there is still a long way to go to reach all eight goals approved by world leaders ten years ago. This is especially true in sub-Saharan Africa, which falls behind on all of the goals.
Eric Swanson is a program manager for the World Development Indicators.
ERIC SWANSON: “You have had a decade or more in Africa of very slow economic progress in the nineties. You’ve had civil war and other disruptions, you’ve had poor governance in many countries that has not allowed the economy to grow and, in particular, has not allowed poor people to share in the benefits of growth.”
Still, he points to some hopeful signs — including a large reduction in the child death rate in Malawi.
ERIC SWANSON: “Malawi is a landlocked state, it is one of the ones that we tend to worry most about, and yet it has demonstrated that when you focus attention on a problem you can make progress.”
Last week the World Bank also launched a new “open data initiative.” The bank will make its data on living conditions around the world publicly available. Officials say this will make it easier to measure the effects of policies and develop new solutions to help the world’s poor.
And that’s the VOA Special English Development Report, written by June Simms. You can comment on our programs and learn about other development issues at voaspecialenglish.com. You can find transcripts, MP3s and podcasts. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and iTunes at VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember.
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Tags: development, goal, world bank
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9 Comments for World Bank Sees Progress on Development Goals
1. Ngô Gia Bôn | September 10th, 2010 at 1:44 am
i want to make the acquaintance of some body.
iam boy.. i come from nghe an province.
plead to meet you.
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2. dang ngoc | September 12th, 2010 at 1:34 am
I see the progress is very good but I am afraid action will difficult .I will hope the world hasn’t the extreme poverty and people will live together in the peace
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3. tttt | September 12th, 2010 at 11:03 am
In my country, They seemed didn’t think about the poor who always living in their lack of facilities in living conditions. They identified that not to be a necessary in the present. Besides, other someone have been becoming richer so much. The living standard was the more different the more far.
If it have just one dolla per day – There will be a myriad of poor people there. They have only tow meal while have to hard work in the fields on the whole day. Their children were difficult to go to universities.
I wonder if the progress of bank development goal will change their living or not?
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pigcanfly Reply:
September 24th, 2010 at 1:42 am
you wrote well. i see u are practical when u talk any problem.
u can write what u think, i hope i can do same u soon beacause my skills is bad. im happy if u can help me to repair misunderstands
thz!
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4. db | September 15th, 2010 at 4:41 am
i think this program is good for the poor in the world, especially in Africa. although action of this program will meet many difficulties,it help improve the living of poor people there. And i hope that have more and more program like this.
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5. huong | September 16th, 2010 at 12:43 am
In my country, richer more and poorer more, economic develop our life worse than, I always hope to earn money more but can’t. The advantage not me.
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6. pigcanfly | September 24th, 2010 at 1:22 am
reducing the gap between rish and poor is one of the main challenges facing the government each country, especially it is big problem in the developing country same Vietnam.
still now, we don’t find solution to prolems.
i always to earn a lots money but it is difficult to do , many disadvantages to hinder.
i hope anybody can repair my writing if i have misunderstand
thanks a lots!
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7. huong thi pham | April 15th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
Eliminating hunger,reducing poverty is the first important target that Vietnam have to gain at present . We has got initial achievements but not unstable.There are stiil lots of poor people around us. the more economy develops, the more distance between the poor and the rich raises.Help poor people much more by many ways such as lending capital, creating jobs so that they can earn their living by themshelves.
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8. pvs | August 3rd, 2011 at 9:57 pm
poverty is a big problem in the world, exspectially in deveoping countries.so many goverments try solve it, but it’s very difficult, goods raises, income is down…
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