I have not yet read the letter and I will do it. However, please notice there are no "poor countries", but only "poor people". This is not just a semantic issue, it is about what poverty actually is. How do you consider India? Poor or not poor? This classification does not make sense.

I don't agree in Bill Gate optimistic view and his willingness to make a prediction that "by 2035, there will be almost no poor countries left in the world". Currently in 2014 there are 35 poor countries defined by World Bank as low income. Based on Bill Gate prediction in the next 20 years all these 35 poor countries come out of poverty. I have no problem on his optimistic view and appreciate his commitment to eradicate poverty from poor countries. But Bill Gate forget to eradicate poverty development aid is not the only magic bullet. The Bill Gate fundamental assumption is that money is a magic bullet in achieving better life in poor countries. But there should be a real political commitment of developed and developing countries to eradicate poverty.

There is always some poor countries that exist their poverty eradication or reduction programs lacks political commitment to addressed the problems. For example North Korea and Burma poverty eradication and reduction programs not successful and unable to address by developed countries due to cold war and current political problems. Even if some of the poor countries that are friendly with the Western developed countries they are unable to eradicate poverty. For example Ethiopia with annual development aid of 3 billion dollars from the Western countries unable to eradicate poverty. Bill Gate in his 2014 annual letter he mentioned Ethiopia as aid dependent country. I am very grateful for his honest assessment of Ethiopian current situation and his courage to say spade is spade. In Ethiopia, the Government boasting year in and year out that Ethiopia is achieving two digit economic growth. But the reality in the ground does not much what Ethiopia Government said. According to UNDP (2010) finding using multi-dimensional poverty index (MPI), Ethiopia is the second poorest and highly impoverished country in the world, with the number of MPI poor people amounting to 70.7 million and with the percentage of MPI poor people at 90%. So there should be real political commitment by donors and recipient countries in addition to the development aid.

Hello,

A good question and thank you for the contributions so far...

Well, let us take a look at this link http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/world/poorest-countries-in-the-world/13 and go through the names of the countries that are POOR...

I would suggest that we might be as optimistic as the GATES if we can UPROOT corruption from countries - which is a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig ask!?

Regards

Theodora Issa

The point that Pasquale makes regarding this matter is significant. The wealth of nations is not equivalent to the wealth of its subjects. Western thought has inculcated the belief into its societies that a ruling class is necessary to quell the masses from anarchy (Korten, 2006). This continues to be the case. Concentration of material wealth is considered superior to human life in many instances.

The continued inculcation of our society in this fashion must change in order for the wealth of nations to become the wealth of its people. The U.S. Legislation, long considered the beacon of “democracy” and “freedom,” has become a material wealth advocate for those who have the means to lobby. Relatedly, the so-called “poor” nations manifest the separation of classes more distinctly by the laws that keep them separate as well.

I consider myself an optimist, and I agree with Mr. Gates that the infrastructures in these countries are improving. I believe that as long as corporations such as Microsoft, McDonalds, and many others continue to flow capital into these countries for cheaper labor the governments will be able to continue to improve their image. Nevertheless, covering a termite infested house with vinyl siding will do nothing for the integrity of its structure.

Korten, D. (2006). The great turning: From empire to earth community. San Francisco, CA: Berret-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Hello all,

Thanks for the contributions - Manuel - I liked your comment: Nevertheless, covering a termite infested house with vinyl siding will do nothing for the integrity of its structure.

Yes, I totally agree - you need to go to the roots of these countries and investigate the relationships between these countries heads and the multi-nationals - and take it from there.

Well, FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY are different things to different people, and cultures! and might not fit every culture and every people!? unfortunately.

Regards

Theodora Issa

I am not so optimistic. I almost sure that in 2035 many of the poorest countries in the world now will continue to be poor. The following are some facts that can be used to understand my lack of optimist, unless the richest countries stop spent money in the military sector, solidarity instead of assistance become the central policy of the cooperation of all states, wars are substitute for cooperation among others decision that should be taken by those that have the resources to change the current situation the world is facing:

Poverty Facts

• Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day.

• At least 80 % of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.

• More than 80 % of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening.

• The poorest 40 % of the world’s population accounts for 5 % of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.

• According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.”

• Around 27-28 % of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

• If current trends continue, the Millennium Development Goals target of halving the proportion of underweight children will be missed by 30 million children, largely because of slow progress in Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

• Based on enrollment data, about 72 million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005; 57 % of them were girls. And these are regarded as optimistic numbers.

• Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names.

• Less than 1 % of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.

• Infectious diseases continue to blight the lives of the poor across the world. An estimated 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, with 3 million deaths in 2004. Every year there are 350–500 million cases of malaria, with 1 million fatalities: Africa accounts for 90 % of malarial deaths and African children account for over 80 % of malaria victims worldwide.

Water problems affect half of humanity:

• Some 1.1 billion people in developing countries have inadequate access to water, and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation.

• Almost two in three people lacking access to clean water survive on less than $2 a day, with one in three living on less than $1 a day.

• More than 660 million people without sanitation live on less than $2 a day, and more than 385 million on less than $1 a day.

• Access to piped water into the household averages about 85 % for the wealthiest 20 % of the population, compared with 25 % for the poorest 20 %.

• 1.8 billion people who have access to a water source within 1 kilometre, but not in their house or yard, consume around 20 litres per day. In the United Kingdom the average person uses more than 50 litres of water a day flushing toilets (where average daily water usage is about 150 liters a day. The highest average water use in the world is in the US, at 600 liters day.)

• Some 1.8 million child deaths each year as a result of diarrhea.

• The loss of 443 million school days each year from water-related illness.

• Close to half of all people in developing countries suffering at any given time from a health problem caused by water and sanitation deficits.

• Millions of women spending several hours a day collecting water.

• To these human costs can be added the massive economic waste associated with the water and sanitation deficit.… The costs associated with health spending, productivity losses and labour diversions … are greatest in some of the poorest countries. Sub-Saharan Africa loses about 5 % of GDP, or some $28.4 billion annually, a figure that exceeds total aid flows and debt relief to the region in 2003.

Number of children in the world: 2.2 billion

Number in poverty: 1 billion (every second child)

Shelter, safe water and health: For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are: 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3), 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5), 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7)

Children out of education worldwide: 121 million

Survival for children Worldwide: 10.6 million died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (same as children population in France, Germany, Greece and Italy); 1.4 million die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation

Health of children Worldwide: 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized; 15 million children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)

Rural areas account for three in every four people living on less than US$1 a day and a similar share of the world population suffering from malnutrition. However, urbanization is not synonymous with human progress. Urban slum growth is outpacing urban growth by a wide margin.

Approximately half the world’s population now lives in cities and towns. In 2005, one out of three urban dwellers (approximately 1 billion people) was living in slum conditions.

In developing countries some 2.5 billion people are forced to rely on biomass—fuelwood, charcoal and animal dung—to meet their energy needs for cooking. In sub-Saharan Africa, over 80 % of the population depends on traditional biomass for cooking, as do over half of the populations of India and China.

Indoor air pollution resulting from the use of solid fuels [by poorer segments of society] is a major killer. It claims the lives of 1.5 million people each year, more than half of them below the age of five: that is 4000 deaths a day. To put this number in context, it exceeds total deaths from malaria and rivals the number of deaths from tuberculosis.

In 2005, the wealthiest 20 % of the world accounted for 76.6 % of total private consumption. The poorest fifth just 1.5%: The poorest 10 % accounted for just 0.5 % and the wealthiest 10 % accounted for 59 % of all the consumption:

1.6 billion people — a quarter of humanity — live without electricity:

The world’s wealthiest countries (approximately 1 billion people) accounted for $36.6 trillion dollars (76 %).

Low income countries (2.4 billion people) accounted for just $1.6 trillion of GDP (3.3%)

Middle income countries (3 billion people) made up the rest of GDP at just over $10 trillion (20.7%).

The world’s low income countries (2.4 billion people) account for just 2.4 % of world exports.

The total wealth of the top 8.3 million people around the world “rose 8.2 percent to $30.8 trillion in 2004, giving them control of nearly a quarter of the world’s financial assets.”

In other words, about 0.13% of the world’s population controlled 25% of the world’s financial assets in 2004.

“Approximately 790 million people in the developing world are still chronically undernourished, almost two-thirds of whom reside in Asia and the Pacific.

It is a very happy & hopeful picture which can make a deadline on this important issue but very often define the same as hoping against hope as besides the economy progressive environment & social resulting forces ,we have to unfortunately pass into Global Warming -Natural events for which we as human being have no control & very often to remain at the mercy of God -almighty.

It's easy for the rich to make predictions like that of Gates.That assumption is on the pile of money that he has.Gates did not to look at the condition that the United States is in Now. By the year 2035 The United States will be on the edge of being an extremely poor nation. The outsourcing of employment is going to help widen the gap and though the U.S will not be in poverty, it will be divide between rich and poor. Thanks to industry sweeping across North America to Central America, the soon to be Middle Class. Marx knew what he was talking about. To make a short answer even shorter, Gates is wrong.

Acemoglu and Robinson's book outlines an interesting theory for explaining why nations fail and why some nations fail to achieve prosperity. Their thesis is that poor countries are often poor because they are characterised by extractive institutions that only benefit the elite, allowing this elite to extract maximum benefits from society to the exclusion of the greater majority. The opposite of such institutions in their view are those that are inclusive, incentivising all members of society to work harder with an assurance that the value they create through such hard work will not be misappropriated by those with political power. I'm afraid that current trends and realities in a number of countries point to the persistence of such extractive tendencies. Although I like the optimistic view by the Bill & Mellinda Gates Foundation, I cannot quite agree with its predictions.