16/05/2017

1

Poverty Alleviation and Inclusive Social Development in Asia and the Pacific

Nagesh Kumar,

Director, Social Development Division, UN-ESCAP

At EGM on Strategies for Eradicating Poverty to achieve Sustainable Development for All, DSPD/DESA,

New York, 11 May 2017

Asia and the Pacific is the fastest growing region

in the world

Real GDP growth in developing Asia-Pacific, advanced economies and the world, 2006-2017

-4

-2

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Year-

on-y

ear perc

enta

ge c

hange

Developing Asia-Pacific Advanced economies World

16/05/2017

2

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

% o

f th

e p

op

ula

tio

n i

n A

sia

-Pa

cifi

c livin

g in

po

ve

rty

Po

pu

lati

on

liv

ing

in p

ove

rty,

th

ou

san

ds

(US$

1.2

5/d

ay,

20

05

PP

P)

Population in poverty, by region (1990 - 2012)

Rest of the world Latin America and Carib.Africa Asia and the Pacific% of the population in Asia-Pacific living in poverty

Data: ESCAP (2015) Statistical Yearbook for Asia and the Pacific 2015.

Asia-Pacific has also led the world in poverty

reduction

Yet nearly 400 million people living in extreme poverty

100 80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 80 100

Russian FederationKazakhstan

ThailandIran, Islamic Rep. of

MongoliaTurkey

KyrgyzstanChina

Sri LankaCambodia

VietnamPakistan

IndonesiaWorld

PhilippinesNepal

Lao PDRBangladesh

India

Poverty is concentrated in Select Countries $1.90/day $3.10/day

1990s 2010s

Data: World Bank (2017) World Development Indicators.

Note: Data was used for the earliest available year between 1990 and 1995, and for the latest available year between 2010 and 2014, for all countries in Asia-Pacific for which data was available.

16/05/2017

3

Key factors explaining persistence of

poverty

• Rising inequalities and inequalities of

opportunities such as health and education

• Lack of decent work opportunities

• Poor coverage of social protection

• Social exclusion

• Rural-urban divide

Inequalities have increased across many

countries in the region

• Richest 10% have almost

twice the income of

poorest 40%

• Inequalities have

increased in most

countries over the past

two decades

• Concentration of wealth

is even sharper with top

20% upto 80% of wealth

Source: ESCAP, based on World Bank, World Development Indicators

16/05/2017

4

Inequalities are driven by inequalities in

opportunities such as access to education

and health care and basic services such as

water and sanitation and electricity

Rural-urban and income divide in terms

of access to secondary education

Variations in net secondary education attendance ratios

0

20

40

60

80

100

Att

en

da

nce

in s

eco

nd

ary

ed

uca

tio

n (

%)

Total Urban Rural Poorest Richest

16/05/2017

5

Inadequate coverage of health care results in high ocket health expenditures

Source: ESCAP, based on WHO National Health Accounts database

Unequal Access

to health care

Rural-Urban Divide in access to

electricity, Asia and the Pacific, 2014

0

20

40

60

80

100

Pa

pu

a N

ew

Gu

ine

a

Va

nu

atu

So

lom

on

Isl

an

ds

Tim

or-

Lest

e

Kir

iba

ti

My

an

ma

r

Ca

mb

od

ia

Ba

ng

lad

esh

Mic

ron

esi

a,

Fe

d.

Sts

.

La

o P

DR

Ind

ia

Ne

pa

l

Wo

rld

Mo

ng

oli

a

Ph

ilip

pin

es

Afg

ha

nis

tan

Ma

rsh

all

Isl

an

ds

Sri

La

nk

a

To

ng

a

Ind

on

esi

a

Pa

kis

tan

Sa

mo

a

Tu

va

lu

Vie

tna

m

Ira

n,

Isla

mic

Re

p.

Ky

rgy

z R

ep

ub

lic

Pa

lau

Ta

jik

ista

n

Uzb

ek

ista

n

Tu

rkm

en

ista

n

Tu

rke

y

Th

aila

nd

Sin

ga

po

re

Ru

ssia

n F

ed

era

tio

n

Ne

w Z

ea

lan

d

Ne

w C

ale

do

nia

Ma

ldiv

es

Ma

cao

SA

R,

Ch

ina

Ko

rea

, R

ep

.

Ka

zak

hst

an

Jap

an

Ho

ng

Ko

ng

SA

R,

Ch

ina

Fij

i

Ch

ina

Bru

ne

i D

aru

ssa

lam

Bh

uta

n

Aze

rba

ija

n

Au

stra

lia

Arm

en

ia

Po

pu

lati

on

wit

h a

cce

ss t

o e

lect

rici

ty (

%)

Total Urban Rural

16/05/2017

6

Asia and Pacific has lagged behind in terms of

Women’s economic empowerment

Increased gender parity in education and economic growth have not translated into higher Female Labour Force Participation (FLFP) rates

Women LFPR in Asia has

actually declined

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

Latin America and

Carib.

Europe Africa North America Asia and the Pacific

Women Men

Percentage change in labour force

participation, 1990 to 2016

Pace and quality of job creation has

suffered

KHM

BRN

ARM

AUSIRN

KGZ

TJK

VUT

THA

BGD

SGP

HKG

AZE

IDN

PAK

SLBKOR

VNM

RUS

MAC

UZB

MNG

MDV

KAZ

MYS

WSM

TUR

AFG

FJI

GEO

NZL

PHL

NPL

TKM

CHN

LKA

BTNLAO

TONJPN

PNG

IND

0

100

200

300

400

-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

GD

P G

row

th (

20

11

PP

P)

Total Employment Growth (%)

16/05/2017

7

Low coverage of pensions and other types of social

security for the working-age population

Coverage of women generally even less

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Total Women

Rising proportion of older persons who risk being

left behind

16/05/2017

8

Over 650 million persons with

disabilities in Asia-Pacific face exclusion

• Persons with disabilities are likely to be less employed

• Employment gaps become higher in higher income countries

• When employed, persons with disabilities tend to work in the informal sector, self-employed

• There is double discrimination of women with disabilities

• 1 to 7% GDP loss because of exclusion of persons with disabilities

Asia-Pacific is a major source as well as the

destination of migrants who remain highly

vulnerable

Russian

Federation

6.8 mln

Australia

3.2 mln

India

5.1 mln

Main Countries of

Destination in the Region

Main Countries of

Origin in the Region

China

9.5 mln

Pakistan

5.9 mln

India

15.6 mln

Russian

Federation

10.6 mln

Bangladesh

7.2 mln

Thailand

3.9 mln

Pakistan

3.6 mln

• Migrants from Asia-Pacific: 98 mln

• Migrants to Asia-Pacific: 60 mln

• Lack of legal and social protection

leads to vulnerability and

unequal treatment:

• Women migrants are particularly

vulnerable, given demand for

female labour is typically in jobs

with lower levels of protection,

such as domestic work

• Regulatory constraints often

prevent family reunification

*Source: UN DESA, 2015

16/05/2017

9

Policy Agenda for Policy Agenda for

Poverty Alleviation in Asia Pacific

Harness the job creating potential of

economic growth

• Growth Acceleration alone will not be adequate

• Job creating structural transformation holds the key

• For South Asia, structural transformation towards greater focus on manufacturing would create 143 million additional jobs by 2030

16/05/2017

10

Broaden the coverage of Social

Protection and universal education and

health care

• Policy simulations suggest that in South Asian countries, even

with manufacturing oriented structural transformation, poverty

will not vanish by 2030

• Broadening the coverage of social protection and universal

health and education will be needed to eliminate poverty

Harness the productive potential of

gender equality

64

6261

57

48 48

44

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Latin America East and South East Asia

(excl.China)

China Sub-Saharan Africa Middle East and North Africa India South Asia (excl. India)

in $

tri

llio

n

in p

er

cen

t

Incremental 2025 GDP (in %): Full potential scenario Incremental 2025 GDP (in %): Best-in-region scenario

Gender parity (in %) Incremental 2025 GDP (2014 $ trillion): Best-in- region scenario

Incremental 2025 (in GDP 2014 $ trillion): Full potential scenario

16/05/2017

11

Enhance financial inclusion

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

NZL

AUS

JPN

SGP

HKG

KOR

IRN

MNG

MYS

CHN

THA

RUS

TUR

KAZ

IND

UZB

GEO

IDN

NPL

BTN

VNM

AZE

BGD

PHL

MMR

KGZ

ARM

KHM

TJK

AFG

PAK

TKM

Males Females

Social Inclusion of vulnerable groups

Special programmes for inclusion of vulnerable

and marginalized groups

• Older people

• Persons with disability

• Migrant workers

• Indigenous people

Among others

16/05/2017

12

Thank you

@UNESCAP UNESCAPUNESCAP

WWW.UNESCAP.ORG