A year for the poorest

6 Jun 2008

A year for the poorest

New York 7 January: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed hope that 2008 can be the year of the "bottom billion."

"That's the phrase some economists use to describe the poorest of the world's poor," he said in during his first Press Conference for the New Year.

"They are the forgotten ones, the nearly one billion left behind by global economic growth. Most live in Africa or the small developing islands of Asia, eking out lives of hardship on incomes of less than $1 a day. We must pay careful attention to these nations with special needs. We must heed the voices of the world's poorest people, who too often go unheard."

Secretary-General Meets the Press