World Bank before doctor’s appointment
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – THE World Bank has sounded the alarm on lack of progress made in reducing poverty and inequality as well promoting growth over the past 50 years.
The concern is carried in a report, Fair Progress? Educational Mobility around the World, which marks the 25th anniversary of the International Day to Eradicate Poverty.
The social status of one’s parents is as influential today as it was 50 years ago in determining a person’s future, according to early findings from the report ahead of the day.
“We are living in the middle of a human capital crisis and need to do everything we can to create a world where children everywhere have the opportunity to become whatever they want,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.
He said the potential of hundreds of millions of people was being wasted, as their chances remained too closely tied to the previous generation.
“We have to invest in young children so they are hardwired to succeed, encourage and meet the aspirations of young people, and act at all levels, especially locally, to ensure that tomorrow’s generation can thrive regardless of where they are born.”
World Bank said increases in education from generation to generation have stalled over the last half-century.
About half of people born in an average developing economy in the 1980s have more education than their parents, showing no improvement when compared to those born in the 1960s.
End Poverty Day is marked annually on October 17.
– CAJ News
