"A war that seems to have no end." "An enemy that feels unbeatable." "Extreme poverty." ""More than half the people in the world are living in conditions approaching misery" "We've had endless campaigning." ""They are trapped in the prison of poverty"" "A tidal wave of appalling images." ""This place is the closest thing to hell on earth"" "Decades of aid." "But such poverty still seems an inevitable condition" "The have-nots will always be that way, so many believe." "This world – for them never to be an arena of opportunity, but only ever a place of misery." "I think that view of our world is wrong." "My name is Hans Rosling." "I'm a scientist" " I deal in facts." "Not rhetoric." "But just which one of those two are at the heart of this?" "This September –2015 - almost all the leaders of the 193 member states are flying to the United Nations in New York to sign up to this document." "And inside is nothing less than the UN's goal for the world for the next fifteen years." "And top of the list – goal number 1, point 1 and I read directly:" ""by 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere"" "For all people?" "Everywhere?" "Eradicate?" "In just 15 years?" "But each of these many dots that you can now see on our planet, they represent 10 million people that's more than the population of New York city." "And so many dots with 10 million each and all live in extreme poverty." "Has the United Nations gone mad?" "Or are they just mouthing empty words?" "Or maybe in just 15 years from now, be holding the greatest goal celebration ever!" "Good evening ladies and gentlemen." "I think we will start with a little quiz!" "I am going to talk ask you three questions about the world." "Because I want to know how much you know about poverty and how much you understand of the size of the challenge that is ahead." "So lets now go for the first question." "How many people out of 10 in the world as a whole have electricity at home?" "Is it 1 out of 10?" "That is 10 percent." "Is it 2, 3, 4, 5?" "5 means 50%, half of them." "Or is it 6,7,8,9?" "I'll give you one little hint, it is not 10." "It's not everyone." "So out of the others please answer." "You see basic infrastructure like electricity is so important in ending extreme poverty." "Okay." "So we can move onto the next question." "And that question is about health service." "Look." "How many children out of 10 in the world as a whole have got vaccinated against measles?" "Measles is a deadly disease for malnourished children but many in the rich countries don't know that." "Thank you very much." "My third question is about education." "In the world as a whole how many girls out of 10 go to primary school?" "That is girl in that age group." "Please answer." "Research convincingly shows that education is crucial to end extreme poverty." "Especially for girls." "Here we have all of you." "Thank you very much." "So what did you answer?" "And what were the right answers?" "For that I'm sorry, you'll have to wait." "but I hope that this quiz got you thinking." "What do we mean when we talk about poverty?" "Because it seems as everyone has their own idea." "When we're at home nobody knows that we are poor." "We are poor." "We only eat once a day." "We're poor." "We don't know if we can go to university." "We are so poor." "We nearly became homeless." "I'm so poor now." "I'm living on cornflakes, says Craig." "We are poor but we're not poor what we were 10 years ago." "I'm poor." "I'm the breadline." "I'm so poor but I'll get to the middle class." "It's tricky isn't it?" "People are poor in so many ways." "But look at this." "This is, I call it my yardstick of income." "The poorest people in the world, they live down here on one dollar a day." "More or less." "If you go to the middle, we find incomes of about 10 dollars a day." "Everyone in the world lives somewhere on this line." "And I, I'm a professor in a relatively rich country, so my income is up on this nice end of the line, you know." "People like me, they earn about a 100 dollars a day." "And some earn even more because there is no end of this line." "It just continues like this." "Now, I come from beautiful Sweden and this bubble can represent the 10 million people in Sweden." "So the question is where is Sweden on this income line?" "I will drop it down and show you." "This is the average income in Sweden." "But everyone doesn't have the same income." "Some people earn less and some earn more." "And the richest of Sweden you know, oh they love to have really big boats and they drink very costly wines and they want to have their own horse to ride." "But we also have poverty in Sweden and also like other countries we have a poverty line." "Now to find that poverty line what we do is that we first look up the middle income." "Where half the people are that way and half, the less fortunate are that way." "And then the poverty line is set here." "A little less then half of the mid income." "Now living in this end in Sweden is tough." "People here can't fully participate in the Swedish society." "And yet we call this line Relative Poverty." "And the reason for that is that the line moves." "When the mid income goes up in Sweden then the relative poverty follows" "It really measures inequality." "Now, I'm going to show you a completely different type of poverty, which is down here." "Just a little more than 1 dollar." "It's called Extreme Poverty." "The exact position depends on the value of the dollar." "But the meaning here is clear and this doesn't change." "This is about the daily struggle to get enough to eat." "It's about survival and you can't live further down there because then you die." "Now let me show you Malawi." "Malawi is a country, one of the poorest in the world, which has about the same size of the population as Sweden." "It's in southeast Africa." "And now I take down Malawi on this income line." "This is the average income of Malawi and when I spread it out, it is like this." "What a difference." "Almost everyone in Malawi has less income then the poorest in Sweden." "And you know, I love Malawi." "It's a peaceful, beautiful country with hard working, very kind people." "Its nickname is the Warm Heart of Africa." "But yet most people in Malawi live here in extreme poverty." "What does that mean for them day to day?" "This is the village of Ntchena Chena in the remote corner of the north." "It's home to Dunster, Janet and their children." "It's 5am." "Janet is preparing breakfast." "I'm making porridge." "I add a little salt when it's cooking... and when it's done we add a little sugar to sweeten it." "That's how we make it." "The couple have eleven children." "The younger ones, four girls and three boys still live at home." "In my family I'm also one of eleven." "But four of us died as children." "I am the only surviving male out of the remaining seven." "I thought if I don't have a son... my name will die." "God has blessed me with three sons." "Near Dunster and Janet's house is their small field of maize." "They are entirely dependant on it for their daily food." "Very soon it will be the time for the harvest." "The lynch pin of the family economy." "If the harvest is good they may even have enough to sell a little." "But most years, like for so many other poor farmers the world over there will be a time when the food runs out." "They call it the Hunger Season." "During the Hunger Season we sometimes only eat once a day." "When you're hungry, you have less energy so you can't work normally." "With not much food, even the kids don't eat during the day...they only eat in the evening." "It's a very difficult time." "The children often fall sick due to the lack of good food." "In the Hunger Season we lose weight and my body becomes thin." "It's the same for the children." "And then they're not happy going to school." "Make sure you behave at school!" "Make sure our food is ready!" "Make sure you've got our food ready!" "The children go to school half an hour walk away." "Primary school education is free in Malawi." "But Janet and Dunster struggle to pay for school uniforms and books." "Now we are going to march starting left, left to right." "Left right." "Left right." "Left right." "Left right." "Left right." "Stand right." "There are no school meals here so no food until home time." "We are happy." "Read it." "We are happy today." "Thank you very much." "We are happy today." "There are few jobs in the area and barely an economy to speak of." "But Dunster and Janet keep grafting to raise whatever cash they can for their family." "Dunster turns old bits of tin into pots and watering cans to sell to his neighbours." "Then the cash he earns is invested into a venture of Janet's." "So today the couple trek an hour and a half to the nearest shop." "They are after oil and flour." "With these provisions Janet makes a hundred doughnuts." "She's the Doughnut Queen in her area." "People come from all over the village and up to Mhuju;" "I'm the only seller." "If she sells the entire batch she will net enough profit to feed her family for three days during the Hunger Season." "But her customers are too poor for her business to be anything other then occasion." "At home there is no running water or electrical supply." "But Dunster makes the most of what he has." "This is where my girls sleep." "The little ones sleep here." "Here in this bed is where me and my wife sleep." "When we get some money, we want to buy a mattress." "Here's the bedroom where the other kids sleep." "Once a week Janet has to spread fresh mud on the floor and walls to keep their house from falling apart." "But Dunster is determined to change that." "He's building a new home with strong fired bricks he's made himself." "In bedroom." "Dining room." "And bedroom." "Bedroom." "Sitting room." "Then stores and then bedroom." "This will be a modern house." "It's taken Dunster two years to get this far." "It will take him at least four years more to finish and even then only if he can somehow earn the money for timber and iron sheets for the roof and cement for the floor." "I will make it happen bit by bit." "I want to finish the house and make a difference to my life." "Until I have everything I want." "Dunster and Janet face such a struggle to get anywhere but in spite of their problems they really try to build their future brick by brick." "Now how does their life compare to with those who are rich?" "Welcome to Dollar Street." "Imagine that all homes of the world lined up on one street with those with lowest income on this side and then people with nicer and higher income all the way up here." "My wife and I, we live somewhere here." "This is our house." "A cosy little redwood house that we Swedes love." "And this is our living room." "This is our kitchen and here is our bathroom." "Quite nice eh?" "It's so far to walk down this Dollar Street all the way down here to Janet and Dunster who is there in the other far end." "This is there house." "This is their sofa and their living room." "This is their kitchen and this is their bathroom." "I can really understand that they want to build a new house." "At the Gapminder Foundation where I work, my colleagues are building Dollar Street to show the difference in living situations across the world." "We are recording more then hundred different things in each home and we've been to almost 200 homes in more then 30 countries." "From the poorest to the richest and the many in between." "Let's use that to go and visit Dunster and Janet's neighbours." "Now neighbours that live in different parts of the world but all on the same very modest income." "Here are the Kabura family, farmers in Burundi." "And this is the Chowdhury family in India." "They are in west Bengal working picking coconuts." "And here is Antonio's family in Zimbabwe." "And this is the Geenkai's, farmers in Papua New Guinea." "Now these are their homes." "They are all built by non-durable material." "These are fragile walls." "The roofs are made of grass or leaves." "Now, many Swedes they love to go on holidays to eco lodges." "And these eco lodges are often built to look like these houses." "Because people who are sort of rich, they think that this is charming." "But don't be fooled." "All these families would love to have a new house built of bricks with a tin roof." "Now look here." "I'm lucky, you know, to have a bedroom that I only share with my wife." "Here people sleep on the floor." "The floor." "The floor." "The floor." "And the whole family sleeps together in the same room." "And we asked these families what where their dream to buy next?" "The Kabura's they said they dream to buy a bed." "And the Antonio's they said oh we hope to buy a blanket." "This is what it is like when you have just enough to survive." "Very difficult to buy much to make life more healthy and productive and more comfortable." "These Dollar Street neighbours live in different countries with different cultures." "But they all have the same basic needs." "And they completely lack almost all the same basic things." "In such poverty small things become so significant." "At the poorest end of Dollar Street, only a few, like the Antonio's from Zimbabwe, have enough cash to splash out on a real toothbrush." "Which everyone in the family now eagerly shares." "So know we've got a glimpse of how life is in extreme poverty." "I hope you all agree of the importance of United Nations goal 1.1." "But is that goal just a dream?" "Or is there any possibility to achieve it?" "Bring on my giant poverty tracker." "We need to know how big the problem is." "We need to know if it's getting worse or if it's getting better?" "Time to look at data." "I'm going to build a graph for you with my bare hands." "We Swedes are quite good at self-assembly furniture." "This shows the percent in extreme poverty in the world. 0%. 50%." "And 100%." "And each up rise here represents 10 years." "Here we are at nineteen hundred and this is where we are today." "Now I'm going to start all the way back 200 years ago." "The time of Napoleon. 1800." "What was the percentage of extreme poverty in the world then?" "Staggering. 85%" "Only a few were out of extreme poverty." "And then came the Industrial Revolution." "And did it improve?" "Not much. 1850, it was just down here to 80%." "And 1900 it came down to 70%." "And then further on to 1950." "This is when I was born, just before." "I was two years old here. 55%." "And we have to go all the way to 1970 to reach 50%." "The year when half the world population is out of extreme poverty and half were still in extreme poverty." "And then only in my adult life has it started to drop a little faster." "And I stop here at 1990 when it was down to 35%." "Now this year is not the first time the United Nations put a target, a goal for extreme poverty." "The former goal was to half the extreme poverty from 1990 up to 2015 where we are now." "And many people at that time said that's mad, that will never work." "So it's very exciting for you now to learn you know where is the last estimate?" "Where is 2015?" "And the estimate is...oh I have to put a special stick here." "It was, it's here. 2015." "This is where we are now." "And the estimate is 12. 12." "Let me show you this fantastic trend here." "How it went down from 85%, coming slowly down, a little faster down and then down here." "Was the goal achieved?" "Well it's not easy to measure extreme poverty." "There is an uncertainty but there is no doubt that this trend is fast going down and that the last goal was indeed achieved." "However, I'm a statistician and I know that just because you see a trend like that, that doesn't mean that it will continue in the same direction." "It may level off like this because the last lap is often the toughest." "But on the other hand, you can see that it's not impossible to achieve this new goal." "To end extreme poverty all together by 2030." "It is quite an amazing change that we have seen and I want to show you this one more time." "But then I will use my fancy digital display here." "Look here." "This now is the poverty rate in the world, in percent." "And I start again at 1800." "Now enjoy this amazing journey." "So everything is fine?" "This amazing fall in poverty?" "No." "There's a catch." "And I know that some of you have already spotted it." "This show percent of people in poverty." "It doesn't show number of people." "Because during this period the world population has increased." "So I'm going to change this axis." "I take it away and I replace it with number of people in billions." "And back in 1800, the world population was just 1 billion people." "And then this happened with the world population, it started to increase and then it came up to 2 billion, 3 billion." "Up." "Up." "Up." "Up." "Up." "Up to 7 billion and a little beyond." "So what does that mean for these percentages in poverty we have." "Well back then in 1800, 85% of 1 billion, well that's more or less 1 billion." "But here." "In 1970, when we had 50% in poverty and 4 billion people." "How many were then the number in poverty?" "Look at that trend." "It was 50% of 4." "That's 2 billion." "Never in human history had there been so many hungry people in the world as 1970." "Because the population was growing faster than the poverty rate was going down." "So where are we today?" "With more than 7 billion people and 12% in extreme poverty." "Well you can use your calculator if you want." "This is what has happened." "12% of 7 is more or less 1 billion." "This makes me very humble." "Because it means that the 1 billion that we have today in extreme poverty is more or less the same as we had 200 years ago." "That means that the number of people in extreme poverty over this long historic time has not decreased but from here on we have this strong trend when both percentage and number is coming down." "So to me this indicates that it is indeed possible to continue down to zero." "Now, you are lucky tonight, I will spoil you because I am going to show you this in one more way." "Look here." "I'm going to show you where extreme poverty has been and how it has decreased." "This is the world and here are the population back in 1800 in each of the regions in total 1 billion." "Here is the stick of income." "And I'm going to put down these people to show their incomes." "First Europe and they spread out here." "And then Americas on top of that." "Then come Africa and on top of it the most populous region Asia, including Australia." "And as I've shown you before, almost all people there were living in extreme poverty." "On all regions in the world." "Now, I'm going to show you what has happened." "I start the world and look, with Industrial Revolution the population grew here and the incomes expanded here, mainly because of increased income in Europe and America." "And then in the 20th century the population continued to grow here and incomes increased even more." "And they changed the whole pattern of the world." "It became a divided world." "The worldview you grew up with." "With the rich west here and poor Africa and Asia here." "But in the 1980's the amazing growth of China and the other tiger economy in Asia and India, they start to get out of poverty." "They close this gap and they are coming over on this side." "And the shape of the world changing." "And look now, Africa is following, I call them the lion economies of Africa." "And here we are today in a completely new shape of the world." "For those of you who still think about the world as the rich and the poor, I'm going to give you a new concept." "I'm going to give you a new term." "The Middle." "What we have to do is look at those who recently came from extreme poverty into The Middle" "To learn what does it take to go from here to there." "Welcome to Cambodia." "One of Asia's poorest countries." "And to Botchan Thy who farms a smallholding in the village of Yong-Rom in the center of the country." "Thy and his wife Oht Srey Mao live with her dad Oht Ong and their three year old son Oh Dong" "Thy, you are eating a lot." "I'm hungry." "The family is about to get bigger." "Srey Mao is heavily pregnant." "In fact the local midwife has told her that she is expecting twins." "I'm eating for three now." "The family's living conditions are far from easy but unlike Malawi there is no hunger season here." "This is where I sleep." "They have electricity." "This is my kitchen." "Though no gas for cooking." "And though life's hard there is time and money for her to pursue her hobby." "I feed them rice." "I wouldn't ever eat them." "I keep them because they're nice to look at." "Though still poor, the family have earned enough to buy some life changing things." "Father plug it in." "Last year Thy managed to invest the equivalent of 300 dollars in a new water pump so he no longer had to waste time at the public pump." "It used to stop me running my business." "I'd have to wait all or most of the day just to get water." "Things are changing fast in Cambodia today." "Just two hours away, the capital Phnom Penh is at the heart of an economic boom." "New export industries, above all textiles are yielding very fast economic growth." "And this transformation is reaching well into the countryside." "In the past our country wasn't developed." "But society and the economy have been improving." "So now we're in a much better position to run businesses because there's a market for trading." "With textile factories opening up nearby many neighbours have began to prosper, moving away from agriculture to full time employment." "Thy is turning this to his advantage." "People stopped planting grass so I thought there's a market for grass." "Because people who work in factories have no time to plant grass so with the money they earn they buy my grass to feed their cows." "Though Thy's farm land is similar in size to Dunster's in Malawi, what he's able to do with it couldn't be more different." "It take about three months and I get around 500,000 riels profit (worth $350)" "Unlike Dunster, Thy can even afford to invest in what he needs to make his work more efficient." "This bike helps me because otherwise I'd have to carry it." "This bike cost 500,000 riels (worth $350)" "I feel good when I lie like this." "Srey and Thy are out of extreme poverty but not far out and they've had unexpected and troubling news." "One of the twins is upside down." "If it's not good, get a caesarean." "I do not want to get a caesarean, Aunty Thy." "A caesarean makes your child cleverer." "If you have a difficult delivery it will also be difficult for your baby." "Unexpected medical costs often cause serious financial shocks for people just outside extreme poverty." "With a possible caesarean and many days in hospital to pay for the family have had to borrow the equivalent of almost 500 dollars." "We're poor so if we don't borrow money we can't solve the problem." "All the family's assets, the pump, the bike and even their land might be in jepadory depending on what happens next." "Such a big debt might even throw them right back to extreme poverty." "Worrying times for Thy and Srey Mao." "A risky pregnancy and the risk to be thrown back into extreme poverty if things go wrong." "Now let's head back to Dollar Street." "The place where they live, you know, is not at the far poorest end." "They are the new arrivals to this big Middle, where most of the people live." "So let's visit some of their neighbours, all having the same income out of extreme poverty but not so much more." "Is the Castillo's from the slum in Manila in the Philippines." "It is Iquira Collo from Columbia and it is Nshimyimana's from Rwanda." "And also the Bishash's from Bangladesh." "Now these are their houses." "They are still poor but there is a distinct difference between these houses and those in extreme poverty." "They are of more durable material." "There is bricks there and there is a roof with plastic and there is iron sheets." "And this you can see, inside their home, they have more things for a better life." "A more healthy life, a more productive life." "They have clean water in their house." "They've bicycles and a little car, so they can transport and they can carry things." "Better beds with mattresses." "And things to keep them informed and even entertain them in their homes." "And most importantly they all have electricity, electricity, electricity, electricity." "Now if you live in this richer end of Dollar Street, it is very easy to look down at people in the rest of the world, the Middle and the rest and say they are all equally poor." "But if you look carefully, you will see a completely different story." "All across the Middle, progress today is steady and very real." "Step by step lives are getting better." "And in so many ways." "Not just more stuff in people's homes but more opportunities for a fuller life." "Ladies and gentlemen this is the moment you have been waiting for." "Time for the answers on the World Quiz." "Are you confident now?" "You will see how you have answered." "Well remember the first question." "How many people out of 10 have electricity at home in the world?" "These were your answers:" "Ahh very much spread out." "But it seems that most was like 4, 40%." "Let's look at the right answer." "It's 8." "Little more than 80%. 40% that was 1960." "You are 50 years behind on average." "Next question." "How many children out of 10 are vaccinated against measles?" "These are your results." "Once again spread out and it seems that the most common answer here was 30% of children." "The right answer is?" "83% of the children of the world are vaccinated against measles." "Now let's look at the last one." "How many girls out of 10 go to primary school?" "Your answer was like this." "Ahh and once more it was like you think 40% of the girls." "The right answer is?" "90% of girls go to school." "Your answer is 60 years behind." "Don't look too sad you know." "I put these type of questions to many audiences across the world and they are as out-dated as you are." "You know it is absolutely amazing how much life is improving for most people in the world, not only economically but in so many different ways." "I think this is the greatest story of our time." "Or almost the greatest story of human history." "And if you don't believe me, look at this." "Here is my yard stick of income but I'm going to change it because I'm going to compare countries." "So I changed this one to GDP per capita." "It's a fancy term for the income of countries." "And it goes from 500 dollars per person, 5,000 dollars per person, up to 50,000 dollars per person a year." "But money's nice but it's not the most important." "We need a measure of human progress also." "And from my huge database I think it's easy to choose." "What I think is the best measure of human progress is to look at the fall of child mortality." "Child mortality is the number of children that tragically die before the age of 5." "From 50% to 10% of course we want it to go close to zero as possible." "Now, child mortality depends on so many things not just health service." "It depends on education, living conditions, how communities and governments protect and help those in need." "So child mortality measures all those aspects of human progress." "So let's now start in 1800." "And here comes all the countries." "First Europe, each bubble is a country." "Then Americas." "And here Africa." "And now Asia." "The size of these bubbles correspond to population, so the big ones up there is China and India." "Now in 1800 there was an appalling high child mortality in the world." "Even the most powerful country at that time, the UK, had more than one child in three dying before the age of five." "Now let's see what happens." "Let's see how countries got more money and how well they used that money." "I start now the world. here we go." "The richest countries improved their economy and with better hygiene, food and education, they lower child mortality." "Then comes smallpox vaccination, industrially produced soap." "It went down further and then with further economic growth they could improve living conditions and even start with social welfare." "Now, ohh that was the First World War." "And after that the poorest countries start to move downwards here slowly, slowly and that is the Second World War." "Now after that independence came to countries in Asia and Africa and with that more families got education, better water, sanitation, health service with new vaccines." "They got better seeds and with roads, rural life improves." "And here...ohh that was the break down of the Soviet Union over there." "And now all the girls, almost in the world get education and women get more empowered and that presses down child mortality and increase economic growth." "Here we are today." "What an amazing change." "Even the worst off countries today have a lower child mortality then that of the best 200 years ago." "But there is still huge difference between the countries." "So I zoom in to show you that." "And look, the worst off, poorest, war torn African countries are up there but peaceful Malawi is down here." "Now these countries in the middle, they've had an amazing progress and Cambodia has already reached here." "But remember Thy and Srey Mao, they face the challenge of her twin delivery and they also risk, you know, an economic shock from the medical bill." "So how this young family now fares will be a test for their country and for the world at large." "Srey Mao has gone into labour and the couple waste no time in heading for the district hospital." "Because one of the twins is upside down, the local health centre won't take her." "Thy doesn't trust his own unreliable bike so they've had to hire an expensive motorbike taxi." "It's an hour's journey, almost four days earnings but at least there is a hospital to go to." "At the end of the 70's, Cambodia was emerging from the mass murder of Khmer Rouge and there was very few surviving doctors but since then more then one thousand health centres and hospitals have been opened." "It's 1am, suddenly Srey Mao is in full labour." "The first twin is delivered naturally and the medical team is also able very skilfully to turn the second baby." "There is no need to operate." "Srey Mao has given birth to two healthy boys." "I'm so happy to see them delivered safely." "I'm so glad they were delivered successfully without an operation." "I'm so relieved." "Although an expensive caesarean is avoided the family still face a costly hospital bill." "But there is one chance for Thy to avoid the costs and pay back their debts." "A government scheme known as the Poor Card picks up the medical bills and expenses for poorer Cambodians." "But to see if they qualify Thy will first have some tough questioning." "What type of house do you have?" "A zinc roof and leaves for walls." "What sort of floor is it?" "Bamboo." "What kind of electronic devices do you have at home?" "I have a mobile phone to speak to my relatives, an old television and a motorbike." "But I don't ride it much because I'm worried it will break down because it often does." "The questions are designed to assess just how poor the family really is." "More then 19 points and they will have to pick up all their healthcare bills themselves." "To make sure the system isn't abused inspectors will go to Thy's house and check that he is telling the truth." "What's your illness?" "My wife's given birth." "Oh, delivered twins, right?" "Yes." "If my team find out your answers are not accurate you'll have to pay it back." "Yes." "They score 17 points and just qualify for the poor card." "They won't need to pay the hospital, what's more, they'll get a daily allowance towards food and travel." "So I got the money from the fund." "When it's time to leave hospital the Poor Card also cover costs for a tuk tuk ride home." "1 in 10 Cambodians do still live in extreme poverty but this family won't be joining them." "They've been able to repay the money they borrowed and with this Poor Card they will all have free healthcare for at least the next five years, from grandpa to the new twins, they are all listed." "You've already named them" "I named them" "What are their names?" "Chantheoun and Chantha." "Chantheoun and Chantha." "This basic welfare system has ensured that his happy event is not a financial catastrophe." "The family will stay part of Cambodia's growing economy." "Welcome to the world Chantheoun and Chantha." "But what's the lesson from Cambodia for the poorest countries?" "When these countries here in the Middle developed so successfully, they both invested in human progress and grew their economy." "But which came first?" "Chicken or egg?" "People or money?" "Let's look at the UK." "In 1800 the UK was here and now we run 200-year story." "First the UK got wealthier and then went a little healthier and then more wealth and health." "Now I'm going to compare that with the mightiest of the emerging countries." "China." "When they came out from their Communist Revolution in 1950, they had more or less the same child mortality as the United Kingdom had 150 years earlier." "And then during Chairman Mao there was both progress and horror." "But then they continued downwards with social progress and that kick started this amazing economic growth that we have seen in China." "Now, China reached the same low level of child mortality as the UK had here, at the tenth of the economic level." "But they did it with Communism." "Let's go to a neighbouring country, South Korea, with a different political system." "This is still the year of the Korean War but after the war Korea invested heavily in education and health and improved human development and then came this amazing economic growth that was even faster then China." "You see, this is the route that many countries in the world who are successful today are following." "It's a smart shortcut but they first invest with very limited economic resources in human progress and then take off economically and go that way." "Now, even in Africa, let me show you Ethiopia. 1950 up here, first decades you know of turmoil and even famine and then from 1990 here they take off with investments in human and now economic growth." "So what about poor Malawi?" "It has come down like this." "Really successful in education and in health and they have come down here, much better now then generations ago but they are still waiting for their economic growth." "In Malawi harvest time has arrived." "So we'll cut down the maize stems." "Those without knives gather the sheaves." "Ok?" "All the family get to work." "But Dunster does not have high hopes." "The rains are often irregular in this part of Malawi and this year they came at the wrong time." "Even so it's only now that the cobs are all taken off that he can really tell how this year's harvest has done." "It's not what I was hoping for." "I wanted better quality maize but it hasn't come out well." "With the harvest complete Dunster at last can definitively measure how much food the family has and how long it will last." "It's supposed to reach up to here." "But looking at this maize it'll be gone by January." "We'll have no food from February to June." "It wouldn't really take much to make poor farmers like Dunster and Janet far more productive." "Enough to lift them out of extreme poverty all together." "So often what's lacking is something straightforward." "There is no shortage of water in the area." "The problem is reliably getting it to the right place at the right time." "A few miles away on the far side of the village there is a small irrigation system that diverts water from local streams." "The farmers over there grow better maize as well as other crops." "They've been able to turn their farms into real businesses." "Near Dunster's house is a place where he believes a dam could create a stream water reservoir for his side of the village." "A dam could start over there and be built across to here." "All the way to those trees." "It could fill that area." "Small irrigation systems aren't too difficult to build but they still need funding and agreement on management." "Both hard to come by." "That's why Dunster is still at the mercy of the rains." "If we had a dam, it would change my life." "I would grow more food." "It would be good for my family." "A dam would change our lives tremendously." "What Dunster hopes for is not widely unrealistic." "But he will need it to fulfil his dream." "When I finish my house, I want a satellite dish." "I want chairs and beds." "When my friends come to admire our house they'll say "this poor farmer works hard." "He has shown that as the world is developing, so is he." And tomorrow they should do the same." "What a paradoxical situation, Janet and Dunster work so hard and get so little." "All they need is a small dam but who is going to pay for things like that?" "Commercial investments?" "Not likely for poor people in remote areas." "Governments?" "The poorest countries are still too poor." "So let me tell you about the third main alternative." "International aid." "Here once more we show economic level and social progress." "And we zoom in as we have seen before." "And the richer countries of those here in the Middle, this group here." "They still have some people remaining in extreme poverty." "And they get about 300 dollars in aid per person in extreme poverty." "But I think they are rich enough to take care of their own poor people." "In fact some of these countries, China and Mexico, they are already generously giving aid to these ones." "Why should they also get it?" "I think it's time to stop giving aid to these countries." "Now the next group here, who is the lower part of the Middle group." "Quite a sizable part of their population still in extreme poverty." "They still get aid, also around 300 dollars per person in extreme poverty and they need aid." "You saw in Cambodia how that poverty card really helped people not falling back into extreme poverty." "Now the strange thing is here, the countries with the lowest income." "They have the highest percentage of people in extreme poverty but they only get 100 dollars in aid per person in extreme poverty." "The aid has to be much better focused and it especially has to focus on the remotest areas, the remote corners of these countries because that's where extreme poverty is." "And yes, the governments in these countries also have to dramatically improve the way they provide services." "But it is here the end game will be against extreme poverty." "Ending extreme poverty will transform the lives of a billion people." "But this is not about charity, it is an investment in all of us." "Extreme poverty helps fuel many dangerous long running conflicts, ending it will bring peace." "And what's more, where ever extreme poverty ends, the poor of today will become the customers of tomorrow." "And I'm sure the inventors and the entrepreneurs of tomorrow too." "There is one last thing I must tell you." "One reason why it's not only important to end extreme poverty but it's also urgent." "Population growth" "Here are all the people again and I want to tell you about one profound effect of this big move out of extreme poverty." "It's about the size of families." "Number of babies born per woman." "Here in extreme poverty, still today there's on average 5 children in the family." "5 babies born per woman." "Where as those who are out of extreme poverty, the vast majority of the world, here the average today is 2 children in each family." "Independent of culture and religion." "And what does this mean for goal 1.1?" "Well it mean that if only a part of these people get out of extreme poverty those who remain will continue to have large families and poverty will reproduce itself." "Now it is very important that you don't misunderstand." "I don't say that you end extreme poverty by telling these people to have fewer children." "No, it's the other way round." "If you help these people get out of extreme poverty they will very soon swiftly decide to have fewer children if they access to contraceptives." "It's the remarkable fact you know that explains why it is easier to end extreme poverty swiftly then to do it slowly." "It will be easiest of all to end extreme poverty in less then one generation." "You know I wondered in the beginning if the United Nations were mad when they suggested that we should end extreme poverty in 15 years." "In fact it would be mad not to do it." "I hope I've shown you that the right actions together with economic growth and targeted aid can end extreme poverty." "We really can end that terrible poverty around the world that has been with humanity throughout history." "We have seen so many being lifted out of extreme poverty and now we can continue that and get the job done." "Ending extreme poverty won't end the problems of the world but in comparison with other huge problems like climate change and war, this one to me seems easy." "So goal 1.1, let's do it."