The COVID crash: Why 150 million people could enter extreme poverty by 2022

While one infected world leader continues to make light of COVID-19 and its effects on the economy, the full impact of the pandemic is only just starting to make itself known.  Case in point: An in-depth report from the World Bank, released Wednesday, which estimates that up to 100 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty by the end of 2020 — and up to 50 million more will follow in 2021 — due to the coronavirus and the economic crisis following in its wakePrevious World Bank estimates had suggested the number would be around 49 million total.  Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than $1.90 a day, the median value of the poverty line in the world's poorest countries. It's such a basic level of subsistence that we in the wealthy 21st century have no excuse not to provide it to every human. In 2015, the United Nations declared its first and most important Sustainable Development Goal was to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. And we were actually on course to achieve it: From 2015 to 2019, the number of people below the $1.90 threshold dropped from 740 million to around 550 million.  Read more...More about Poverty, Social Good, and Activism