For the first time in world history, less than 10 percent of the global population will be living in extreme poverty.

According to World Bank projections, at the end of 2015 only about 702 million people, or 9.6 per cent of the global population, will still be living in extreme poverty. Over the past three years, an additional 200 million people have climbed above the international poverty line.

What makes this feat even more remarkable is that it’s based on a new definition of extreme poverty. The World Bank, which sets the benchmark for the global extreme poverty line, is shifting the line from $1.25 a day to $1.90 a day. Valerie Kozel, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, explains the reason for the shift:

“It’s an effort to keep a global poverty line contemporary,” Kozel says. “To make sure it reflects conditions today.”

She says when the bank first set the standard 30 years ago, living above the poverty line simply meant having enough food to eat.

Today, durable goods like cell phones and motorbikes are almost as important as food in many developing nations.

Read the article “How Cell Phones are Helping to End Extreme Poverty” on blog.acton.org.