According to a new report titled “Key Indicators for Asia and the Pacific 2021” released by Asian Development Bank (ADB), COVID-19 pandemic has pushed an estimated 75 million to 80 million people in developing Asia into extreme poverty as compared to what would have happened without COVID-19.

• According to the report, covid-19 pandemic is threatening progress of Asia and Pacific toward targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Pandemic has increased inequality and extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is defined as living on less than 1.90 dollars per day.
• Report highlights that, progress has also stalled in areas like hunger, health and education.
• As of 2017, around 203 million people (5.2 per cent) of developing Asia’s population lived in extreme poverty. Report highlights that, without COVID-19, this number would have declined to 2.6 per cent in 2020.
• It highlights, economy of Asia and Pacific has grown at a robust pace in recent years. In 2019, it has contributed about 35 per cent to global gross domestic product (GDP) in US dollars.
• Among the reporting economies of Asia and the Pacific, only about one in four posted GDP growth last year.
• This region has lost around 8 percent of work hours because of mobility restrictions which in turn affects poorer households and workers of informal economy.

Report highlights that, in order to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, decision makers are required to harness high-quality and timely data as guided actions in order to ensure that the recovery leaves no one behind, including the poor and vulnerable sections.