Gap between the World's Rich and Poor is widening, threatening world stability by UN News / ABC News 3:53pm 26th Aug, 2005   25 August 2005    Rising poverty over past 10 years threatens stability, says UN report. (UN News)    Increasing poverty and a growing schism between the “haves” and the “have nots” continue to pose a major threat to developing democracies around the world, and the resulting economic and social inequality will continue to breed violence and terror if the trend is not reversed, a United Nations report said today.    The report entitled “The Inequality Predicament”, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) warned of growing “violence associated with national and international acts of terrorism,” which are the result of stark economic and social inequalities, and competition over scarce resources.    Solutions to inequality outlined in the report include addressing economic asymmetries not just within countries but also between them: 80 per cent of the world’s domestic product belongs to 1 billion people living in the developed world, while the remaining 20 percent is shared by 5 billion people living in developing countries.    “This is an especially important report because it concentrates on inequality of income as well as inequality in access to basic social services, as well as decision-making,” Under-Secretary-General for the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Jose Antonio Ocampo, said today as he introduced the report.    Noting that the report comes 10 years after the 1995 Copenhagen World Summit for Social Development – where governments pledged to confront profound social challenges and to place people at the centre of development – he said some decade-old social gaps had actually widened, particularly gender disparities.    Although more women and girls were being educated, formal employment figures for women had stagnated or even decreased in some parts of the world. Even more troubling was the sharp increase of women being employed by the informal sector, he added.    The modest gains made in gender equality, education and other areas proved that social mobilization, particularly civil society engagement, can help raise awareness to social problems and spur action at national and regional levels, he said, noting that the report also stresses the critical importance of boosting access to basic services as one of the most important instruments States had to deal with inequities.    The report notes that in a world of increasing development when societies should be reaping the economic benefits of progress, instead many are experiencing alarming increases in the discrepancies between rich and poor.    The United States, Canada and Britain have not escaped this disturbing trend, it said, seeking to nudge both developed and developing countries to take more vigorous steps in the direction of assuring equality while responding to the economic urgency for growth.    In a summary of the report, Mr. Ocampo said that “failure to address this inequality predicament will insure that social injustice and better living conditions for all people remain elusive,” and that this trend will continue to lead to social instability in the world.    Socio-economic strategies should focus on access to resources, social services and the markets that must be incorporated alongside economic development programmes. Economic stimulation without the associated social programmes is inadequate to eradicate the cycle of poverty: “Focusing exclusively on economic growth and income generation as a development strategy is ineffective, as it leads to the accumulation of wealth by a few, and deepens the poverty of many,…and does not acknowledge the intergenerational transmission of poverty,” says the report.    In the final word of his report, Mr. Ocampo says, “The failure to pursue a comprehensive integrated approach to development will perpetuate the inequality predicament, for which everyone pays the price.”    25 Aug. 2005    Report shows gap between rich and poor widening, by Alison Caldwell. (ABC News)    The gap between the worlds's rich and poor is getting bigger, according to the United Nations, which has been tracking the wealth gap over the past decade.    According to the UN's report, 80 per cent of the world's domestic product belongs to one billion people who live in the developed world, with the remaining 20 per cent shared by five billion people who live in developing countries. While living standards have improved in some countries, the report concludes that poverty remains entrenched.    Jose Antonio Ocampo is the Under-Secretary-General for the UN's Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which produced the report.    Jose Antonio Ocampo: The poorest countries in the world have fallen behind the richest countries. But also in many countries of the world there is also a worsening of the relation between the income of the poor and the income of the rich.    Alison Caldwell: As well as examining income and wealth inequality, the report also looks at health and education and the disparities between men and women. Although more women and girls were being educated, the report says formal employment figures for women in some countries have either stagnated or decreased.    Jose Antonio Ocampo: The fact that some of the poorest ethnic groups are getting left behind in many parts of the world. The gaps between the women and men, particularly in the workplace, the gaps in access to political power.    Alison Caldwell: The report recommends expanding opportunities for productive employment and bringing marginalised groups into society. Jose Antonio Ocampo says globalisation hasn't addressed the inequalities between the world's haves and have-nots.    Jose Antonio Ocampo: The fact that income distribution has worsened at the same time that global markets have been expanding, probably indicates that the expansion of markets without sufficient levels of social protection may be part of the explanation. Global markets have to be accompanied by better systems of social protection.
	Next (more recent) news item
	Next (older) news item