Despite of some achievements, the efforts on poverty elimination are still insufficient. Following this trend, it is still hard to reach the world millennium developmental goal in all areas, that is, to decrease the population in extreme poverty to half before 2015. According to an estimate in 2007 by the World Bank, in the world population of 6.5 billion, those whose daily income is less than one US dollar amount to nearly one billion, and those whose daily income is less than two US dollar number to 2.6 billion or so. In other words, about one sixth population in the present world (nearly one billion) are utterly destitute; about one fifth (1.3 billion) have no secure drink water; and more than one third (2.6 billion or so) have no basic hygienic facilities. The population in the least developed countries in the world totals 750 million, nearly half of whom subsists on less than one US dollar every day. In addition, the highest illiterate rate of a whole population all over a country amounted up to 82%, highest infant mortality 16.2%, and the shortest average longevity 39 years old. So, the international community still has heavy responsibilities in eliminating poverty and guaranteeing human rights.

3. Developed Countries and Developing Ones Should Assume Different Responsibilities for Poverty Eradication The Previous UN Secretary-general Annan once pointed out that poverty was still spreading and population in distress was still increasing in some countries although they had made efforts to eliminate poverty and although global economy had shown a growth tendency. According to the numbers publicized by the UN, the least developed countries numbered to 24 in 1971, and 31 in 1981; but in 1990, they increased up to 43, and 50 in 2007. This datum shows that the disparity between developed and developing countries is being further enlarged.

The major cause of disparity between the rich and the poor in the international community is an unreasonable world economic order. In addition, economic globalization has further enlarged the gap between developed countries and developing ones; and in the opportunities of trade and investment increase brought about by the globalization, those which received the most benefits are the developed countries. Developed countries should have made more contributions to poverty elimination. But the fact is on the contrary. Developed countries have not honored their promise to increase their aids to deprived countries. For years, in the general environment in which global economy continues to grow, the official developmental aids from developed countries to the least developed ones have not increased at the same rate as that of the economic growth of developed countries although such aids have accrued somehow. Judging from the point of actual value, the ratio of the aid funds offered by developed countries and the revenues of these countries is only one second of that in the 1960s. At the same time, however, developed countries have tended to relate their aids to the human rights conditions and their so-called democratic process in the aided countries, and thus intervened in the reasonable use of limited aid funds. In this case, there happened the strange phenomenon criticized by Annan, that is, some people are vehement and talkative in the issue of human rights, but do nothing for the security and development of man. At its opening, this essay has tried to explain from an historical point the attitudes and standpoints of the Western developed countries in the face of poverty elimination, but that cannot be a pretext for not performing their international obligation in poverty alleviation.

Developing countries have received limited benefits from developed ones, but have been compromised most seriously in the present international financial crisis incurred by developed countries. Due to this crisis, developing countries have suffered from abrupt decreases of exports, reduction of prices of primary products, withdrawal of foreign investments, abatement of foreign aids and exhausted overseas remittance; in addition, economic depression has also incurred the descending financial power of the governments of developing countries in solving poverty problems, directly impacting the governmental work of these countries on poverty elimination. Developed countries should recognize that international poverty alleviation is their undeniable duties. And developed countries also have to recognize that to help developing countries on poverty elimination is an obligatory duty rather than any condescension, and that it will not only favor developing countries but also benefit developed countries themselves. Developed countries should be more aware that if the problem of poverty cannot be solved as early as possible, the various contradictions in the world will be further intensified, and the turbulence in the international community will be inevitable. In the present background of globalization, no country can avoid a global disaster incurred by any international turbulence.

When stressing that developed countries should assume their duties to the international community, especially to developing countries in the issue of poverty elimination, developing countries should strengthen themselves to solve the problem of poverty, especially do more work on the development of social justice and the decrease of disparities between the rich and the poor in their own societies. In this respect, China has gained some inspiring experience.

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