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The developing world has made remarkable progress. The number of people living in extreme poverty on less than $1 a day has fallen by about 400 million in the last 25 years. Many more children, particularly girls, are completing primary school. Illiteracy rates have fallen by half in 30 years. And life expectancy is nearly 15 years longer, on average, than it was 40 years ago. |
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These often spectacular achievements have put many countries securely on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. But many others are being left behind, and for them progress in eradicating poverty and improving living standards remains stubbornly slow. In Sub-Saharan Africa the number of people living on less than $1 a day has nearly doubled since 1981. Every day thousands of people, many of them children, still die from preventable diseases. AIDS, malaria, and simple dehydration ravage the developing world. |
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Reaching the Millennium Development Goals is a challenge that depends on having access to the best information available. In designing policies and targeting resources, we need to know how many people are poor and where they live. We need vital information about them, such as their gender, age, and the nature of their work or, indeed, if they have work. We also need to know whether they have access to health care, schools, and safe water. And because economic growth is essential to poverty reduction, we need to know more about the economy, the business environment, the expected demographic trends, the scale of environmental degradation, and the infrastructure services available, among many other statistics.
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Since 1978 World Development Indicators has compiled statistics to provide an annual snapshot of progress in the developing world and the challenges that remain. It is the product of intensive collaboration with numerous international organizations, government agencies, and private and nongovernmental organizations. Our collective efforts have greatly improved the coverage and reliability of statistics on poverty and development. But more is needed. |
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Better statistics are of value to us all. They allow us to assess the scope of the problems we face and measure progress in solving them. They make politicians and policymakers more accountable. They discourage arbitrariness, corruption, and reliance on anecdotal evidence. But they are costly to produce. Improving our knowledge base will require sustained investment, backed by a sustained commitment by national governments and international agencies. To achieve the ambitious targets we have set ourselves, we must scale up our efforts to produce reliable statistics that will inform public policy, guide debate, and strengthen the effectiveness of development efforts. |
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Paul D. Wolfowitz |
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President |
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The World Bank Group
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