Inflation has driven 71 million people worldwide into poverty since the Ukrainian War

Dubai, Arab Emirates — Russia in Ukraine As a result of soaring food and energy prices in the weeks following the invasion, a staggering 71 million people around the world are experiencing poverty, the UN Development Program said. I will report on Thursday.

UNDP estimates that in the first three months after the war, 51.6 million people were in poverty and lived on less than $ 1.90 a day. This pushed the total number of the world to 9% of the world's population at this threshold. An additional 20 million people slipped into the $ 3.20 daily poverty line.

In low-income countries, families spend 42% of their household income on food, but as Western countries move to Russian sanctions, fuels such as wheat, sugar and cooking oil and main foods The price of groceries has skyrocketed. The inability to export grain to Ukraine's closed ports and low-income countries further pushed up prices and rapidly pushed tens of millions into poverty.

"The cost of life impact is almost unprecedented across generations ... and that's why it's so serious," UNDP administrator Achim Steiner said in a report release. ..

The rate at which many of these people experienced poverty outweighed the financial distress they felt during the peak of the pandemic. UNDP exceeded 71 million in just three months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, while 125 million were poor in about 18 months between the blockade and closure of the pandemic. Said that he experienced.

"This is very fast," said George Molina, UNDP's chief economist and report author.

The countries most affected by inflation include Haiti, Argentina, Egypt, Iraq, Turkey, the Philippines, Rwanda, Sudan, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan. In countries like Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria and Yemen, the impact of inflation is even more severe for those who are already at the lowest poverty lines.

The total number of people in poverty or vulnerable to poverty is over 5 billion, less than 70% of the world's population.

Another UN report released Wednesday said that last year, global hunger increased, making it difficult for 2.3 billion people to eat moderate or severe diets, which was prewar in Ukraine. was.

Steiner said the global economy needed to be strengthened, adding that the world had enough wealth to manage the crisis.

UNDP does not spend billions of dollars on comprehensive energy subsidies, but instead the government can prevent an additional 52.6 million people from falling into poverty for $ 5.50 a day, We encourage you to target your spending to reach the most affected people through targeted cash transfers.

To achieve this for underfunded and debt-ridden developing countries, UNDP was taking place during a pandemic among the wealthiest countries in the world. I asked for an extension of debt payment.

Steiner said that not only is it a philanthropic act, but it also avoids other complex trends such as the country's economic collapse and popular protests already taking place throughout the region. It is also a "reasonable act of self-interest". world.

The war in Ukraine has devastated a region known as the bread basket of the world. Before the war, Russia was the world's largest exporter of natural gas and the second largest exporter of crude oil. Russia and Ukraine together account for almost a quarter of the world's wheat exports and more than half of sunflower oil exports.