Following a significant decline in global poverty from 2015-2018, the impacts of the COIVD-19 pandemic pushed the poverty rate up 9.2 per cent in 2020. This was the first increase in extreme poverty since 1998 and was a major setback in achieving SDG 1. Ending global poverty by 2030 will require more than closing an income gap — it will rely on institutions and opportunities that promote equality, including access to resources, gender, employment, housing, and health.
Working to alleviate poverty has been part of the UNU agenda for four decades. Ongoing research focuses on the socio-economic drivers and consequences for households on the move to find solutions to poverty, at both ends of the migration path. The UNU economic toolbox uses sustainable benefit models to guide developing countries as they create social protection systems.