Is Asia poorer than Africa?
No, Asia is not poorer than Africa. According to a data by the World Bank, the world’s poorest countries are mostly located in Africa.
Central African Republic with a GDP per capita of $619 (as of 2015) ranks the lowest amongst the countries of the world in terms of poverty. The rank is according to the gross domestic product (GDP) based on purchasing power parity (PPP) per capita. The PPP considers the relative cost of living and the inflation rates of the countries, to compare living standards among the different nations. In fact, Afghanistan, the poorest country in Asia, has a GDP per capita which is three times more than the Central African Republic. According to the World Bank, in 2015, the GDP per capita of Afghanistan stood at $1,925.
At the other side of the spectrum is Qatar, which is not only the richest country in Asia, but also the world. Qatar’s GDP per capita in 2015 was a whopping $141,543. In contrast, Equatorial Guinea, the richest country in Africa, had a GDP per capita of $40,718.
Africans have been severely affected by poverty, and currently, Africa is suffering from hunger and malnourishment. As per a recent estimate (year 2014-15) of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, of the 795 million undernourished people worldwide, 233 million people were in sub-Saharan Africa.
Hunger remains an unresolved problem in the sub-Saharan region of Africa where more than one in four people remain undernourished—the highest prevalence of any region in the world. Even though it is estimated that hunger/undernourishment has declined from 33.2 per cent in 1990-92 to 23.2 per cent in 2014-16, the number of undernourished people has increased.
A World Bank report shows that in 2012, 501 million people, or 47 percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa, lived on $1.90 a day or less, a principal factor in causing widespread hunger.
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