An Oxfam Killer Fact Collection
Duncan Green, June 2014
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Development Success
Finance for Development
Humanitarian
Inequality and Taxation
Food and Climate
Development Success
Income Poverty
Worldwide, the proportion of people living in extreme income poverty (< $1.25) has
more than halved, falling from 47% to 22% between 1990 and 2010. (Source UN
Millennium Progress Report 2013)
Between 1993 and 2008, Vietnam reduced the proportion of people living below
the national poverty line from 58% to just 15%. Source ODI.
79% of the world’s $2 a day poor currently live in Middle Income Countries. Over
time, the proportion in Fragile and Conflict Affected States (some of them middle
income) will rise, although the extent of the shift is hotly disputed (see this blog)
Be cautious on global numbers. The May 2014 release of the World Bank’s new
(2011) International Price Comparison dataset appeared to overnight reduce
extreme poverty by more than half to 8.9%, according to an initial calculation by
CGD. We will have to wait for this to be confirmed/replaced by the Bank.
Health
Nepal’s maternal mortality ratio (MMR) fell by 47% between 1996 and 2006.
Source ODI.
Globally, the mortality rate for children under-five deaths fell by 41 per cent—from
87 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990. Source UN In absolute numbers, Under-five
deaths have fallen from 12.6 million in 1990 to 6.6 million in 2012. Source UNICEF
Education
In Ethiopia, approximately 3 million pupils were in primary school in 1994/95. By
2008/09, this had risen to 15.5 million - an increase of over 500%. Progress has
been through government-led efforts to reduce poverty and expand the public
education system equitably, backed by substantial increases in national education
expenditure and aid, as well as improved planning and implementation capacity at all
levels. Source ODI.
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Watsan
Uganda (Water and sanitation): Following reforms and sustained investment in
water infrastructure, Uganda increased the proportion of people in rural areas with
access to an improved water source from 39% in 1990 to 64% in 2008. Source ODI
Agriculture
With agricultural growth averaging more than 5% a year during the past 25 years,
Ghana is one of the top 5 performers in the world. This has contributed to major
reductions in poverty and malnutrition. Having raised food production per capita by
more than 80% since the early 1980s, Ghana is largely self-sufficient in staples,
owing in part to large increases in cassava and yam production as well as improved
varieties. Source ODI
Social Protection
India has the largest rights-based employment guarantee programme in the world
(NREGA), providing over 4 million households a year with 100 days work. With a
strong focus on the poorest and most excluded, the programme is contributing to
reduced vulnerability to seasonal and household shocks, as well as improved food
security and use of basic services. Source: NREGA website
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Killer Facts: Finance for Development
From 1990-2011, total international resource flows to developing countries grew from
US$425 million to US$2.1 trillion. Much of this has been driven by rapid expansion in
foreign investment in developing countries, growing remittances, and increases in
lending. Source Development Initiatives.
ODA remains the main international resource for countries with government
spending of less than PPP$500 per person per year. Source Development Initiatives
Remittances to developing countries reached an estimated US$436 billion in
2014, over 3 times global aid flows. Source World Bank
Locally generated revenue: Government spending in developing countries is now
US$5.9 trillion a year, over 40 times the volume of aid. Source Development
Initiatives
Tax: Natural resources accounted for 40% of total tax revenue in Africa from 20082011. Source: Eurodad
While non-ODA flows account for over 90% of the total resource receipts in uppermiddle income countries (UMICs), these flows account for only one third in leastdeveloped countries (LDCs). Source OECD
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Killer Facts: Humanitarian
Conflict
According to the OECD, half the world’s poor live in conflict-affected or fragile states
(Source: OECD DAC); by 2030 it may by two-thirds (Source: Brookings Institution).
In most years all the worst humanitarian crises are in conflicts like Syria, Pakistan,
Somalia (Source: Global Humanitarian Assistance).
In 2014 the world will spend $8 billion on peacekeeping (Source: UN), compared to
$1745 billion total military spending in 2012 (Source: SIPRI) (i.e. peace merits less
than half of one percent of war).
Link to climate change:
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According to research by International Alert, 46 countries with a population of 2.7
billion could face a high risk of conflict as climate change increases tensions, for
example over scarce resources (Source: International Alert).
Syria’s conflict started in the fourth consecutive year of severe drought, after decades
of falling precipitation, which had, in 2010 alone, driven 300,000 rural families from
their land (Source: UN).
Disasters
An estimated 258,000 people died in Somalia from famine and food insecurity
between October 2010 and April 2012.
The number of weather-related disasters reported has tripled in 30 years (Source:
Oxfam).
By the 2030s, large parts of Southern Africa, South and East Asia will see greater
exposure to droughts, floods and other hazards; 325 million people in extreme
poverty will live in the most exposed areas (Source: ODI).
In the last 20 years, the impact of disasters has been devastating: 4.4 billion people
affected, 1.3 million people killed, US$2 trillion in economic losses.
As well as mega disaster, smaller, localized disasters often go unnoticed: The
attrition of small-scale disasters affects the poorest families, and accounts for
significant disaster impact: 54% of houses damaged, 80% of people affected, and
83% of people injured.
Low-income and lower-middle income countries have accounted for only 33% of
disasters, but 81% of all deaths.
Climate is responsible for three-quarters of all disaster events; the IPCC’s Special
Report on Extreme Events suggests climate change could result in “unprecedented
extreme weather and climate events.”
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Humanitarian action
2013 saw the smallest proportion, 62%, of needs (as set out in UN appeals) met for
a decade (Source: OCHA). Emerging donors aren’t yet filling the gap (Source:
Global Humanitarian Assistance).
For all the talk of building long-term resilience, the world spent $532 million to
prepare for and prevent disasters in 2011 – and $19.4 billion to respond (so 40 times
more spent on cure than on prevention). (Source: Oxfam)
Yet prevention is value for money: every $1 spent in disaster resilience in Kenya has
saved $2.90 in reduced humanitarian spend, reduced losses and development
gains. (Source: Oxfam)
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Killer Facts: Inequality and taxation
The 85 richest individuals in the world have as much wealth as the poorest half of
the global population. Source Oxfam report.
In Namibia and Bolivia, the richest ten per cent earn 100 times more than the
poorest ten per cent. Source: Oxfam.
Governments around the world lose around £100bn a year in tax from rich
individuals using tax havens. Source Oxfam.
In Indonesia, ending corporate tax dodging could help 3.5 million farmers provide
food for their families. Source UNEP.
In UK
The 5 richest families in the UK are wealthier than the bottom 20 percent of the
entire population (12.6 million people). Source Oxfam.
The UK ‘tax gap’ – the total amount of missing tax money owed to the Treasury – is
estimated to be around £35 billion a year. Of that, at least £5.2 billion is down to
wealthy individuals using tax havens. That’s £200 a year for each household in the
UK. (Source: HM Revenue & Customs)
In the last two decades the incomes of the top 0.1 percent have grown 4 times faster
than the incomes of the bottom 90 percent of the population. (Source: Oxfam)
For the first time, more working households are living in poverty in the UK than nonworking ones. (Source: Joseph Rowntree Roundation) Since 2010, 80% of the jobs
created in the UK have paid less than the Living Wage of £7.95 an hour (Source:
TUC)
In 2012, the CEOs of the richest 100 UK companies took home an average of
£4.25m and an average pay rise of 10%. Source Oxfam. Only six of them paid their
employees a living wage. Source Living Wage Foundation.
In the sixth richest country in the world (UK), 500,000 people have had to rely on
emergency food aid last year.(Source: Trussell Trust)
Inequality and Health & Education
More than 1.5 million lives are lost due to high income inequality in rich countries
alone, according to a study in the British Medical Journal
In the UK, health care and education are worth as much to the poorest 20 per cent of
people as their entire post-tax income. Source: Office for National Statistics.
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For the poorest 20 per cent of families in Pakistan, sending all children a private lowfee school would cost approximately 127 per cent of that household’s income.
Source: academic paper.
On redistribution
Brazil has achieved success comparable only to the New Deal, through a
combination of social policy (Bolsa Familia, minimum wage), good economic
management and job creation. Source Oxfam
If South Africa decreased income inequality by just 10 percentage points, this would
lift 1.5 million people out of absolute poverty. But if inequality levels remain static,
there will still be more than eight million South Africans living in poverty by 2020.
Source: Oxfam report.
On work and wages
Tea pickers in Malawi are living below the extreme poverty line of $1.25 a day, even
though they are earning the minimum wage. Source Oxfam.
Cocoa farmers receive as low as 3.5 per cent of the price of a chocolate bar,
compared to 18% in the 1980s. Source Fairtrade Foundation.
Only 8% of global garment workers belong to a Union. Source Oxfam.
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Killer Facts: Food and Climate
Climate Change and Hunger
Climate change could increase the number of people at risk of hunger by 10–20 per
cent by 2050, compared to a world with no climate change. Source: IPCC.
There could be 25 million more malnourished children under the age of 5 in 2050,
compared with a world without climate change – that’s the equivalent of all the
children under 5 in the US and Canada combined. Source: Oxfam, based on IFPRI,
UNICEF
Food Prices
Food price spikes can be a matter of life and death to many people in developing
countries, who spend as much as 75 per cent of their income on food. Source: World
Bank.
In 2012, the worst US drought in 50 years reduced the maize crop by 25 per cent,
contributing to global maize price rises of around 40 per cent. Source OECD
That same year was the UK’s second wettest on record, leading to the lowest wheat
yields in 20 years. Source: Met Office
Climate Change and Agriculture
Kenyan-grown flowers air-freighted to the UK are six times less greenhouse gasintensive than Netherlands-grown flowers shipped to UK. Source: IPL Poverty
footprint.
Climate Change and Fossil Fuels
Some 60–80% of the fossil fuel reserves of companies listed on global stock markets
is ‘unburnable’ if the world is to stay below +2°C. At the current rate of capital
expenditure, the next decade will see over $6trn allocated to developing fossil fuels Source:
Carbon Tracker
Fossil fuel subsidies cost over half a trillion dollars ($500 bn) globally in 2011. Egypt,
Indonesia, Pakistan and Venezuela, spend at least twice as much on fossil fuel
subsidies as on public health. Source: ODI.
Climate Change and Finance
At the Copenhagen summit in 2009, world leaders promised to provide $100bn per
year by 2020 to help poor countries adapt to a changing climate and reduce their
emissions. $100 billion is less than 5% of the wealth of the world’s top 100
billionaires. Source: Oxfam
They also committed to providing $30bn of ‘Fast Start Finance’ between 2010 and
2012, balanced between adaptation and mitigation.
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