Commentary

The new century has opened with a renewal of interest in the issue of poverty within the borders of the world’s richest nations. In the European Union, heads of government have called for specific targets to be established as part of an effort to ‘make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty’. In the United States, official poverty lines are being reviewed for the first time in over 30 years. In France, the Prime Minister’s Conseil d’Analyse Économique has focused national attention on poverty and social exclusion. In the Republic of Ireland, specific targets and programmes have been announced for a ten-year antipoverty effort. In the United Kingdom, the government has committed itself to halving child poverty in ten years and eradicating it in twenty.

Sustainable Development Goals:

No Poverty

Quality Education

Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions