Poverty grew in Mexico to nearly half the population, study finds, By Tracy Wilkinson, July 29, 2011, Los Angeles Times: “Mexico received more bad economic news Friday with a report that shows poverty is steadily on the rise. The number of Mexicans living in poverty grew to 52 million in 2010, up by more than 3 million people from two years earlier, the report says. That means 46.2% of the population lives in poverty. Within that group, 11.7 million people live in extreme poverty, a figure that held steady over the same period. The report was produced by the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy, an autonomous but federally financed agency, and represents the state’s most comprehensive study of poverty to date…”

Brazil’s new plan to beat poverty, By Taylor Barnes and Sara Llana Miller, July 7, 2011, Christian Science Monitor: “With a monthly stipend that she receives from the Brazilian government, Clemilda dos Santos can now keep the refrigerator stocked for her 10 kids, but life for the family is still precarious. At the top of a red clay hill in Japeri, the town with the lowest human development index in the state of Rio, the one-bedroom home she shares with her whole family still floods with rainwater. Her kids need winter coats. In the past decade, Brazil has been touted for lifting 25 million people out of poverty, thanks to macroeconomic stability, high commodities prices, and a much hailed social program called Bolsa Familia that gives families monthly cash for families that adhere to conditions such as keeping kids in classrooms. But as the nation continues to rise - it became majority middle class in 2008, according to the Rio-based Getúlio Vargas Foundation - leaders say they are determined to do more, arguing that packed homes and uncloaked children have no place in today’s economic landscape…”

Fast-growing Brazil tries to lift its poorest, By Juan Forero, May 11, 2011, Washington Post: “The industrial complex and port here are a showcase of the region’s economic might, employing 55,000 workers and attracting billions in investments. But a couple of miles down the road, Netildes Delvina Soares, 47, lives ‘with much suffering,’ as she put it, in a wood-plank hut without plumbing or electricity. Although traditionally poor, Brazil’s northeast is now home to the country’s fastest-growing regional economy, making the disparity between prosperity and extreme poverty more visible here than anywhere else. And it is places such as this that the country’s new president, Dilma Rousseff, is hoping to uplift as she pursues an ambitious goal: eradicating indigence, defined as earning less than $45 a month. Over the past decade, Brazil has lifted 20 million people out of poverty through a mix of well-funded social programs and careful economic stewardship, creating a burgeoning consumer class that has helped make the country the world’s seventh-largest economy…”

Save the Children says severe child poverty ‘going up’, January 26, 2010, BBC News: “The number of UK children living in “severe poverty” rose in the four years before the recession, research from a children’s charity suggests. Save the Children says the number of children in homes in this category rose 260,000 to 1.7m from 2004 to 2008. The report warns there is a danger that severe poverty could rise even further. The government says it has lifted half a million children out of relative poverty, and helped the very poorest, as defined by its own criteria. It has pledged to halve child poverty by 2010 from the 1998/99 figure of 3.4 million and end it altogether by 2020…”

• Global poverty rolls projected to surge, By Annys Shin, September 17, 2009, Washington Post: “The global recession is expected to push 89 million more people into extreme poverty by the end of 2010, the World Bank said Wednesday as it called on the leaders of the 20 largest economies to engage in ‘responsible globalization.’ Although economic data show that the worst recession of the post-World War II era might have ended in the United States, and global trade has begun to pick up, low-income countries are still reeling from the effects of a financial crisis created by their wealthier counterparts…”
• World Bank says don’t forget poor amid crisis, By Tom Barkley, September 17, 2009, Wall Street Journal: “Group of 20 nations emerging from recession shouldn’t forget poorer countries, which face funding needs of $11.6 billion just to maintain spending on basic services like health and education, the World Bank said Wednesday. In a report prepared for G-20 leaders meeting in Pittsburgh next week, the bank warned that the global crisis is poised to push an additional 89 million people into extreme poverty by the end of next year if additional help isn’t provided. ‘The poorest countries may not be well represented on the G-20, but we cannot ignore the long-term costs of the global downturn on their people’s health and education,’ World Bank President Robert Zoellick said in a statement…”

Safety net is fraying for the very poor, By Erik Eckholm, July 4, 2009, New York Times: “Government ’safety net’ programs like Social Security and food stamps have pulled growing numbers of Americans out of poverty since the mid-1990s. But even before the current recession, these programs were providing less help to the most desperately poor, mainly nonworking families with children, according to a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a private group in Washington…”