Logo

Scripture and the Millennium Development Goals

26 November 2013

 

ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY AND HUNGER

GOAL 1:
ERADICATE EXTREME POVERTY & HUNGER

2013 Fact Sheet PDF document

Target 1.A:
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than $1.25 a day

  • The target of reducing extreme poverty rates by half was met five years ahead of the 2015 deadline.
  • The global poverty rate at $1.25 a day fell in 2010 to less than half the 1990 rate. 700 million fewer people lived in conditions of extreme poverty in 2010 than in 1990. However, at the global level 1.2 billion people are still living in extreme poverty.

Target 1.B:
Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people

  • Globally, 384 million workers lived below the $1.25 a day poverty line in 2011—a reduction of 294 million since 2001.
  • The gender gap in employment persists, with a 24.8 percentage point difference between men and women in the employment-to-population ratio in 2012.

Target 1.C:
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

  • The hunger reduction target is within reach by 2015.
  • Globally, about 870 million people are estimated to be undernourished.
  • More than 100 million children under age five are still undernourished and underweight.

Scripture Verses related to Goal 1

Scripture -- Matthew 25 “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was stranger and you welcomed me.”

"Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith for ever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry." - Psalm 146: 5-7

 "Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?" - Isaiah 58:6-7

Feeding of the Five Thousand. - John 6:1-15

"They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do." - Galatioans 2:10