Efforts to Fight Poverty This is Gwen Outen with the VOA Special
English DEVELOPMENT REPORT. The World Bank estimates that more
than one thousand million people live on less than one dollar a
day. These are the poorest of the poor, about one-sixth of the
world population. Martin Ravallion works for the Development
Research Group at the World Bank. He says about fifty percent of
the people in several African nations are among the world's
poorest. These nations include Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania
and Zambia. But even though these areas remain extremely poor,
Mr. Ravallion says world poverty has been cut in half over the
last twenty years. He says the number of poor people dropped by
almost four hundred million between nineteen eighty-one and two
thousand one. To reduce poverty, the World Bank says developing
nations should expand the possibilities for business and
investment. The bank's newest World Development Report notes
that private industry creates more than ninety percent of jobs
in developing countr