In 2005, more than one billion people still exist on less than $1 per day, while more than 800 million people do not have enough food to fulfil their daily energy needs.

The overall global poverty rate has fallen over the last decade, mainly due to strong economic growth in Asia. Between 1990 and 2001, the number of people in the region living on less than $1 per day fell by 0.25bn.

However war, drought and economic stagnation in sub-Saharan Africa have caused millions of people to become even poorer. Food production has not increased, and shortages have been exacerbated by growing populations.

Source: The information here is taken from the UN's 2005 Millennium Development Goals Report. Data is shown for regional groupings as follows - Developing regions: N Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, SE Asia, Oceania, E Asia, S Asia, W Asia, Lat. Am. and Carib; the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Asia and Europe; and Developed regions.