Pandemic sends 4.7m more people into ‘extreme poverty’ in SE Asia

FILE PHOTO: Residents of a small apartment building do house chores outside their units, amid the lockdown to contain the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), in a slum area in Tondo, Manila, Philippines, May 4, 2020. (Reuters)

MANILA: The pandemic added 4.7 million more people to Southeast Asia's most extreme poor in 2021, reversing gains made in fighting poverty, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Wednesday, while urging governments to take steps to boost economic growth.

The number of people in extreme poverty - defined as those living on less than $1.90 a day - was 24.3 million last year, or 3.7% of Southeast Asia's collective 650 million population, the ADB said in a report.