联合国社会发展世界首脑会议确定1996年为“国际消除贫困年”。联合国秘书长加利敦促所有国家遵守在联合国社会发展世界首脑会议上所作的承诺,把消除贫困、增加就业和促进社会融合等目标列为当前和跨入21世纪的最优先项目。 贫困,世界性的课题:消除贫困,是全人类义不容辞的共同责任,是一场全球性的20世纪末的大战。 据联合国统计,在地球上近6亿人口中,有13亿人生活在绝对贫困线以下,比5年前增加3亿多。世界上“最不发达国家”在近20年由27个增加到48 The United Nations World Summit for Social Development identified 1996 as the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. Gary, the UN Secretary-General, urges all countries to abide by the commitments made at the UN World Summit for Social Development and to set the goals of eliminating poverty, increasing employment and promoting social integration as the top priorities of the current and into the 21st century. Poverty and World-wide Issues: Eradicating poverty is an unshirkable responsibility shared by all humankind and a global war at the end of the 20th century. According to the UN statistics, 1.3 billion of the nearly 600 million people on earth live below the absolute poverty line, more than 300 million more than five years ago. The number of “least developed countries” in the world increased from 27 to 48 in the recent 20 years