Bill Gates: 'By 2035, there will be almost no poor countries left in the world'

[mathematic]

75. China is not considered wealthy by this metric

There are 4 categories and they just entered "upper middle income" category a couple years ago. Also, this national income has translated into monumental gains in poverty reduction. In 2007 26% of china was living on less than $1.25 a day. Last year it was down to 6%! GDP per capita has increased 67% over the same period.

While the individual level is important, for the low income countries that's putting the cart before the horse. Around 700 million people have been lifted out of extreme poverty in China over the last two decades. 700 million! It's mind boggling. But look at this thread: if DU was around back then the idea would have been laughed at and ridiculed. Certainly the notion would have seemed crazy back then but now, with a global poverty rate that was halved in the last two decades why not set similarly ambitious goals about poverty over the next 20 years?