American economists have calculated the financial resources necessary to eradicate extreme poverty across the globe. According to their findings, approximately $318 billion per year would be sufficient. This represents only 0.3% of the world’s gross domestic product.
The study was conducted by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and is based on an analysis of poverty data from 23 low-income countries.
Artificial intelligence technologies were used to assess the needs of hundreds of millions of people with high precision. This approach enabled researchers to estimate the amount of targeted financial assistance required to raise individuals’ daily income above the international extreme poverty threshold of $2.15 per day.
The authors acknowledge that political and institutional challenges remain significant obstacles. In their view, many low-income countries would not be able to eliminate extreme poverty without external financial support.
According to comparative data, global annual spending on alcohol accounts for approximately 2.2% of world GDP, while cosmetics spending represents about 0.6%. Both figures are several times higher than the amount economists estimate is needed to eliminate extreme poverty.