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At the start of the new millennium, income and non-income
poverty remains a global problem. South Asian Region, with
22.2% of the world's population, is the planet's poorest
region with least per capita income, as compared to Sub-Saharan
Africa, East Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, the Caribbean
and the Pacific regions. Low income, conflicts, illiteracy,
ill-health, gender inequality, etc., are all aspects prevalent
in South Asian Region making it a poverty-ridden area on
the world map. An integrated regional effort by all the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
countries to accelerate the economic growth of the region
seems to be the only solution to improve the material conditions
of the people in South Asia. This paper discusses the problems
prevailing in the regions from a statistical and comparative
point of view and summarizes the efforts made by SAARC in
the eradication of poverty in the region.
South Asia stands today at a transitional stage of development
where poverty, disease, illiteracy and conflict remain the
main problem and where the great potential of its human
and natural resources, and shared humanity of its diverse
cultures can be actualized. This paper examines that the
economic growth performance of South Asia is far below its
potential and stand sharply lower than the growth rates
of South East Asia, Latin America, Caribbean, Europe, West
Asia and other regional blocks. This paper through various
statistical data delineates the issues, problems and reasons
for this slow economic development in South Asian region.
In order to improve the material conditions of the people
of South Asia, the efforts and steps taken up by South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) becomes another
area of study of this paper. Therefore, the objective of
this paper is to discuss the problems of poverty prevailing
in the region and to examine the role played by SAARC to
faster economic growth and also to restructure growth to
make South Asia pro-poor.
South Asia consists of 1.4 billion people, which is 22.2%
of the world population. The region is home to wide diversity
of geographical conditions, political systems, ideological
orientations, societies and cultures. The common factor
that cuts across all the countries of this region is poverty,
which afflicts a large majority of people. Poverty in South
Asia is coupled with socio-political tensions, armed insurgencies,
gender discrimination, violence, child labor and an appalling
inequality between the rich and the poor.
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