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Coronavirus: global hardship and poverty are growing rapidly, according to the UN

2020-12-01T18:16:45.815Z


The UN warns of the consequences of the pandemic: every 33rd person will need help next year. But so far the organization has collected less than half of the billions in aid it needs.


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Relief supplies for a woman in Rwanda

Photo: Cyril Ndegeya / dpa

If all the needy lived in one country, it would now be the fifth largest country in the world in terms of population: According to estimates by the United Nations, a total of 235 million people will need help next year.

This means that every 33rd person worldwide is dependent on help.

That is an increase of 40 percent within a year, compared to 168 million a year ago.

Because: Disasters, conflicts, climate change and now the coronavirus have plunged millions of people worldwide into misery.

There was even a threat of famine after it was thought that such disasters would finally be a thing of the past, warned UN emergency aid coordinator Mark Lowcock.

UN: only half of the 29 billion euros put together

According to the UN report, the worst is in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, the Congo and Ethiopia.

The United Nations wants to help 160 million people in a total of 56 countries next year.

Aid organizations like the Red Cross take care of the others.

The planned UN programs together cost the equivalent of a good 29 billion euros.

However, the UN warned that it has so far raised less than half the amount.

These are urgently needed to avert widespread famine, alleviate poverty and keep children in school.

"The rich world can now see the light at the end of the tunnel," said UN aid chief Mark Lowcock in a statement.

"The same does not apply to the poorest countries." The UN called on the rich countries of the world for financial support.

The problem is not the virus, but the lockdown

"The results of decades of development have been overturned by the coronavirus," the report continues.

For the first time since the 1990s, the number of people who are extremely poor will increase.

Life expectancy will fall in many countries.

Not only the virus itself, but above all the consequences of it would have hit the countries: the closure of business life, the deepest global recession since the 1930s, higher food prices, loss of income, the decline in remittances from relatives abroad, interrupted vaccination programs for diseases such as measles and school closings.

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caw / dpa-AFX / AP

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2020-12-01

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