Global Monitoring Report 2015/2016

The Global Monitoring Report 2015/2016: Development Goals in
an Era of Demographic Change details the progress toward the
global development goals and examines the impact of
demographic change on achieving these goals.

Part I examines global development progress, the unfinished
development agenda, and the policy opportunities ahead. The
report assesses progress toward ending extreme poverty by 2030
and in promoting shared prosperity, and it outlines the measures
necessary to scale up impact over the horizon of the Sustainable
Development Goals.

The report unveils the new poverty line of $1.90 a day and
provides updated estimates for the number of people living in
extreme poverty, which shows further declines. In 2015 the global
poverty rate is forecast to decline to 9.6 percent of the world’s
population, the rst time it has reached single digits. At the same
time, the report makes the case that the depth of remaining
poverty, the unevenness in shared prosperity, and the persistent
disparities in non-income dimensions of development call for
urgent action.

Part II analyzes how profound demographic shifts could alter the
course of global development. Global demography is at a turning
point: The world’s population is growing m ore slowly, while it is
aging at an unprecedented rate. Within these broader global
trends considerable diversity can be found across regions and
countries. While the higher-income countries that drive global
growth are rapidly aging, the lower-income countries
comprising the centers of global poverty are much earlier in
their demographic transition and continue to grapple with
high fertility rates and rapid population growth.

Demographic changes bring both opportunity and risk; the
report argues for demography-informed policy approaches to
tilt demographic change in favor of achieving the development
goals. With the right policies, demographic change can become
one of the most consequential development opportunities of
our time.

The Global Monitoring Report 2015/2016 is written jointly by
the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund,
with substantive inputs from the African Development Bank,
the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American
Development Bank, and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation
and Development.