Bill Gates expressed renewed optimism this week that poverty can be eradicated in all its forms by 2030, and that doing so will help the global population confront other “complex and unprecedented challenges” such as climate change.
In an essay from Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending the World Economic Forum, the world’s richest man wrote that “there is good reason for optimism about progress on reducing inequity. Since the turn of the century, remarkable strides have been taken toward a world in which every person has the chance to lead a healthy, productive life. Maternal deaths have almost halved; child mortality and malaria deaths have halved; extreme poverty has more than halved.”
Gates’ optimism comes at a time when he and 61 other billionaires possess as much wealth as the poorest half of the world’s population. Davos participants were greeted with that startling statistic earlier in the week in a report from Oxfam illustrating worldwide income inequality.
The Microsoft co-founder expects “major breakthroughs” over the next 15 years “which will provide unprecedented opportunities to people in poor countries.” But he also writes that “success will require political will, global cooperation, and human ingenuity” and spells out three areas worth concentrating on:
- Continued support of the institutions that helped get us to where we are now.
- Keeping women and girls at the heart of our endeavors.
- Investing in innovation.
“The daily headlines all too often reflect the gap between today’s world and a world without poverty,” Gates said. “But what the headlines don’t reveal is all the ways life is already getting better for those in greatest need. If we keep our promises to them, it will be front-page news.”
