A new analysis by the UN Women and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said the coronavirus pandemic has unleashed an unprecedented crisis, devastating the lives of the poor.<\/p>\n
According to the report, the pandemic will push 96 million people, including 47 million women and girls, into extreme poverty by 2021, disrupting decades of progress on poverty.<\/p>\n
Though the pandemic will impact global poverty, women will bear the heaviest brunt, especially women of reproductive age.<\/p>\n
The projections show that by 2021, for every 100 men living in extreme poverty, there will be 118 women, which is expected to increase to 121 women by 2030.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As per the pre-pandemic estimations, the poverty rate for women was expected to drop by 2.7% between 2019 and 2021. But the new projections estimate an increase of 9.1% due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n
With this, the total number of women and girls in extreme poverty is expected to reach 435 million, making the achievement of the pre-pandemic level even more challenging until 2030.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that women take most of the responsibility for caring for the family; they earn less, save less and hold much less secure jobs \u2013 in fact, overall, women’s employment is 19% more at risk than men’s,\u201d said UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Among the key findings:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
- Central and Southern Asia\u2019s poverty figures will increase by 54 million<\/li>\n
- Sub-Saharan Africa\u2019s poverty figures will increase by 24 million<\/li>\n
- The poverty rate in South Asia is expected to reach 13% in 2021<\/li>\n
- By 2030, 18.6% of the global poor women and girls live in South Asia<\/li>\n
- In South Asia, there will be 118 poor women for every 100 poor men, which will increase to 129 women by 2030<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new analysis by the UN Women and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said the coronavirus…<\/span><\/p>\n