Poverty

Fighting poverty is one of the major challenges of the new millennium. Particularly in Africa, drought, war and disease threaten people's livelihoods.

According to the United Nations, worldwide around 1 billion people live in extreme poverty. The World Bank defines these as persons who have less than a dollar a day to live on. In the United Nations Millennium Declaration of September 2000, 180 heads of state pledged to halve the number of people living in poverty by the year 2015.

Even though, according to the United Nations, global poverty worldwide has fallen more in the last 50 years than in the preceding 500 years, the struggle to survive is ever present, especially in southern Africa, where almost half the population are unable to earn a living by their own efforts. And there are hardly any signs of improvement. On the contrary – famines, armed conflicts and AIDS threaten the livelihoods of more and more people.

However, poverty is more complex than an isolated look at income levels might suggest, being closely associated with illiteracy, poor healthcare, high infant mortality and often discrimination against women. Poor access to clean water, a lack of sanitation and increasing environmental pollution further aggravate the situation. On top of this, the slums in megacities are frequently also exposed to natural perils.

Growth of the global economy alone will not be enough to combat poverty in the developing countries. What is needed are project-related financial donations and sustained initiatives that will enable people to help themselves. With its projects, the Munich Re Foundation has set itself the target of making a contribution to the millennium goal of eradicating poverty.