World Bank estimates as many as 100 million people may fall into poverty due to the coronavirus pandemic

(Image credit: DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

published 8 June 2020

In April, the World Bank estimated the coronavirus pandemic would push somewhere between 40 million and 60 million people into poverty worldwide. On Monday, that figure increased to between 70 million and 100 million, The Financial Times reports. The bank also now anticipates the global economy will shrink by 5.2 percent, up from its three percent prediction in April.

"This is a deeply sobering outlook, with the crisis likely to leave long-lasting scars and pose major global challenges," said Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, World Bank Group's vice president for equitable growth, finance, and institutions.

Emerging and developing economies, including Russia, Brazil, and India, are expected to shrink for the first time in 60 years, with a 2.5 percent contraction in emerging markets' GDP, and a 3.6 percent decrease in global income per capita. The World Bank expects nations in Latin America and the Caribbean to suffer the hardest blow, forecasting that the region will experience a 7.2 percent GDP decline.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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