On track to reduce poverty, but slow progress on human development goals | 
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| Poverty levels South Asia has made strong progress towards reducing income poverty, placing it roughly on track to meet the target of halving the share of the population living on under $1 a day by 2015. A key factor has been rapid economic growth, with South Asian low-income countries other than India, achieving 4.8 percent growth in 2005. India’s and Pakistan’s economic growth in 2005 is expected to reach eight percent.
Progress on all 'human development goals' too slow Most of the region will not meet the nutrition target, namely, to halve the proportion of children suffering from hunger, as measured by the number of children under five who are underweight. Bangladesh is the only country in South Asia which may achieve the nutrition goal, partly due to the successful scale-up of community-based nutrition programs. Despite significant improvements in regional maternal mortality (from 27 percent of births being attended by trained personnel in 1990 to 38 percent in 2003), South Asia is still far behind the target for this goal. The regional primary education completion rate for girls is still more than 15 percent lower than for boys; only 47 percent of girls go to primary school.
All girls enrolled in primary school in Bangladesh In Bangladesh, where all girls are now enrolled in primary school, emphasis placed by the government and others on girls’ education (including by financial incentives) has closed the education gender gap remarkably. The most recent data show that three girls attend primary and secondary school for every four boys. |
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