Latest editorial
An Afghan refugee boy carries a bag of mangoes on his shoulder in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, June 19, 2022. The UN estimates that 51.6 million more people fell into extreme poverty globally since the start of the war.
MORE than 70 million more people are in poverty than when the Ukraine war began, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said today.
It estimates that 51.6 million more people fell into extreme poverty in the first three months after the war, living off $1.90 (£1.60) a day or less. This pushed the total number globally at this threshold to 9 per cent of the world’s population. An additional 20 million people slipped to the poverty line of $3.20 (£2.70) a day.
Rising poverty levels are linked to soaring food and energy prices. Both were rising fast even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, but have increased even more quickly since. Ukraine’s grain production is set to drop by a third on last year, and Russia and Nato remain at loggerheads over terms that would allow its existing grain reserves to be exported via the Black Sea.
Fertiliser chaos triggered by Gulf conflict could send prices soaring and leave millions facing devastating hunger, writes DYLAN MURPHY
