Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty declined from 36 per cent in 1990 to 10 per cent in 2015. But the pace of change is decelerating and the COVID-19 crisis risks reversing decades of progress in the fight against poverty.
An estimated 233 million people in Asia and the Pacific still live below the international extreme poverty line (less than $1.90 a day). Informal employment dominates work in the region with more than two thirds of all workers or 1.3 billion people, engage in informal employment.
Current investment in social protection in the region remains inadequate, less than half of the global average. Over half of the population in Asia and the Pacific do not have access to any social protection scheme.
