Statistics from the United Nations and the World Bank in 2006, show that:

• A billion people struggle to survive on less than $1 a day.

• 824 million people in the developing world were affected by chronic hunger in 2003.

• 77 million primary school age children are out of school. The sub-Saharan region has made significant progress since 1990/1991, but overall only 64% are enrolled, and in Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali and Niger, fewer than half the children of primary-school age are enrolled in school.

• Globally, more than one in five girls of primary-school age are not in school, compared to about one in six boys.

• Though survival prospects have improved in every region, 10.5 million children died before their fifth birthday in 2004 – mostly from preventable causes. Sub-Saharan Africa, with only 20 per cent of the world’s young children, accounted for half of the total deaths, a situation that has shown only modest improvement.

• More than 500,000 women die each year in childbirth, most of them in developing countries. Only 46 per cent of deliveries in sub-Saharan Africa, where almost half the world’s maternal deaths occur, are assisted by skilled attendants.

• Worldwide, 39.5 million adults and children are living with HIV/AIDS and almost 4.3 million new infections have occurred in 2006. Twelve million sub-Saharan African children are orphans. Around 59 per cent of HIV-positive adults in sub-Saharan Africa – a total of 13.2 million people – are women.

• 1.1 billion people still don’t have access to safe drinking water.

• Low-income countries paid $26 billion in debt service on public debt in 2004. The debt relief program for the most heavily indebted poor countries has reduced future debt payments for 28 nations but this reduced level is still too high.