World Bank fears 150 million people will join extreme poor

JOHANNESBURG -- Up to 150 million people could slip into extreme poverty, living on less than $1.90 a day, by late next year depending on how badly economies shrink during the covid-19 pandemic, the World Bank said last week in an outlook grimmer than before. Middle-income countries are expected to have 82% of the new extreme poor, including India, Nigeria and Indonesia. Many of the new extreme poor will be more educated urban residents, meaning cities will see an increase in the kind of poverty traditionally rooted in rural areas. Most of the new extreme poor, more than 110 million even by the World Bank's baseline estimate, will be in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. [CORONAVIRUS: Click...