What is in news : According to a new report titled “Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2021” released by Asian Development Bank (ADB), COVID-19 pandemic has pushed an estimated 75 million to 80 million people in developing Asia into extreme poverty as compared to what would have happened without COVID-19

Details:

According to the report-

• Covid-19 pandemic is threatening progress of Asia and Pacific toward targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Pandemic has increased inequality and extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than 1.90 dollars per day.
• Progress has also stalled in areas like hunger, health and education.
• As of 2017, around 203 million people (5.2 per cent) of developing Asia’s population lived in extreme poverty
• Without COVID-19, this number would have declined to 2.6 per cent in 2020.
• Economy of Asia and Pacific has grown at a robust pace in recent years. In 2019, it has contributed about 35 per cent to global gross domestic product (GDP) in US dollars.
• Among the reporting economies of Asia and the Pacific, only about one in four posted GDP growth last year.
• This region has lost around 8 percent of work hours because of mobility restrictions which in turn affects poorer households and workers of informal economy.
• In order to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, decision makers are required to harness high-quality and timely data as guided actions in order to ensure that the recovery leaves no one behind, including the poor and vulnerable sections