According to UNICEF, 30,000 children die each day due to poverty.

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Global Poverty Act of 2007 (H.R. 1302)

Promoting the Reduction of Global Poverty

According to the United Nations, poverty is a "multidimensional phenomenon." It is not only about lack of income, but it is also about human deprivations in areas of health, education, participation and security.  Recognizing the importance of U.S. leadership in improving lives around the world, President Bush has made development one of the three pillars of the U.S. National Security Strategy. The United States needs to act now to ensure the well-being of millions of men, women, and children.

Global Poverty: Lives Affected
The World Bank uses a global indicator of incomes of $1 or $2 a day to define poverty. In relative terms, disparities in income are seen as an indicator of poverty and the condition of poverty is linked to questions of scarcity and distribution of resources and power.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were agreed to by more than 180 countries at the 2000 United Nations Millennium Summit, to promote poverty reduction, education, maternal health, gender equality, and environmental sustainability. Developing countries have pledged to invest in their people through health care and education, and developed countries have pledged to support them with aid, debt relief, and fairer trade.

Despite marked progress in health, education, and preserving environmental sustainability, global poverty remains a plaguing problem across the globe. Over 1 billion people worldwide struggle to live on less than $1 per day and 1.6 billion live on less than two dollars per day. 

The problem of poverty is vast. Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific. Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation. Close to half of all people in developing countries are suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.

Global poverty and the extreme conditions in which billions of people worldwide struggle for survival are often out of view for many Americans and citizens of wealthy nations. While the world continues to globalize, inequality and the wealth gap are increasing dramatically. The Gross Domestic Product of the poorest 48 nations (a quarter of the world's countries) is less than the wealth of the world's three richest people combined. Moreover, 20 percent of the population in the developed nations consumes 86 percent of the world's goods.