Global Scans · Poverty · Weekly Summary

WHAT'S NEXT?: Due to a deteriorating global economic outlook, more than 130 out of 189 countries will experience reduced income growth, with the average global GDP growth rate falling from 4.1 percent to 3.1 percent between 2011 and 2030. Almost all of the countries with large numbers remaining in extreme poverty in 2030 will be in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia.

• [New] The EU Anti-Poverty Strategy sets a clear path toward reaching the EU target laid out in the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan of reducing the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion by at least 15 million by 2030, as well as helping eradicate poverty by 2050. Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
• [New] About one-third of older adults live in poverty or are at risk of falling into it. AARP
• [New] Increases in poverty rates were concentrated in the Levant and fragile countries (Sudan and Yemen), where baseline vulnerability is highest and shocks translate more strongly into welfare losses. Al Jazeera
• [New] Even if conflict is 'short but intense', countries like Sudan, Yemen and Lebanon will see significant increases in poverty rates. Al Jazeera
• [New] Poverty, global instability, conflict, global displacement of people and the breakdown of safe migration routes are creating a growing pipeline of vulnerability that traffickers are quick to exploit. The Guardian
• [New] Peace and security in the world will be achieved through tackling poverty, reducing inequality and solving issues which cause destabilization through diplomacy and dialog, not through greater spending on defence. Religion Media Centre
• [New] According to the UN Women Gender Snapshot, closing the gender digital divide could boost global GDP by $1.5 trillion and lift 30 million women out of poverty - that is the scale of the opportunity we are talking about. UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
• [New] The decisions made in the next five years - by executives, policymakers, educators, and technologists - will determine whether AI agents become instruments of broadly shared prosperity or engines of unprecedented inequality. Tech for Impact Summit
• [New] The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) formally identifies climate change as a critical national security threat and a threat multiplier, as it exacerbates existing stresses like poverty, political instability, and resource scarcity. CODEPINK - Women for Peace
• [New] Ireland's participation remains unconscionable given the appalling loss of lives in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis there which continues to put the lives of so many civilians at risk, followed by Spain's RTVE, The Netherlands' Avotros and Slovenia's RTVSLO. HuffPost UK
• [New] The conflict in Gaza and Israel remains devastating, with humanitarian agencies warning of worsening conditions and civilian casualties. Forbes
• The richest 1% of US residents are slated to receive $1 trillion in federal tax cuts over the next 10 years, while low- and middle-income families will pay higher taxes, at a time when affordability challenges continue to increase and income inequality in the US and California are already extreme. California Budget & Policy Center
• Sticking with the current business-as-usual scenario risks building a country where people continue to live in some of Europe's leakiest buildings, and endure high levels of fuel poverty, deepening job insecurity and in-work poverty, and the undermining of efforts to reduce child poverty. The Scottish Beacon
• Social fragmentation represents disruptions in social connections and community cohesion (e.g., social exclusion, isolation, lack of belonging), while SES deprivation encompasses limitations in material and educational resources (e.g., poverty, unemployment, limited educational attainment). PubMed Central (PMC)
• The humanitarian situation across the Occupied Palestinian Territory is marked by insecurity, ongoing attacks that endanger lives, and the progressive erosion or often destruction of critical infrastructure. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitar
• Haiti remains a center of humanitarian, logistical, and criminal risk. Leading Through Cris
• As the UN's peace and development functions remain underfunded, the weakening of the peace-development-humanitarian nexus risks further accelerating instability and diverting resources away from long-term development and conflict prevention. Bretton Woods Project
• Even though time had passed, the dangers of intense radiation, mass displacement, poverty and lack of medical treatment continued to create intolerable conditions for the people of Belarus, Western Russia and the Ukraine. Electricity Info
• The U.N. warns over half of Lebanon's 5.8 million people are in need of humanitarian aid, after Israeli strikes since March killed at least 2,700 people and displaced over a million from their homes. Democracy Now!
• The Mexican government has pledged free, universal healthcare for all from 2027 as part of an ambitious plan to tackle inequality in the country of 120 million. Positive News
• In 2021, the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan announced an EU headline target on poverty reduction: reducing the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million by 2030. Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion

Last updated: 05 June 2026