Easing world poverty = 3 percent of wealth

BERGEN, Norway, June 15 (UPI) -- A U.S. researcher says it is easier to eradicate poverty worldwide than many think but politicians just pretend they are doing something about the poor.

Professor Thomas Pogge of Yale University said the official fight against poverty is cosmetic. Pogge participated in a panel debate at the University of Bergen Resource Centre with members of the Comparative Research Program on Poverty sponsored by the University of Bergen and the International Social Science Council.

"Most people do not realize how easy it is to banish extreme poverty, and how little it would affect their own prosperity. The reality is that the poorest half of the world's population receives only 3 percent of the global income," Pogge said during the debate. "Poverty would not exist if this percentage was increased to 6 percent."

Most people ignore poverty because they are afraid their own prosperity would be reduced if they helped combat global poverty, Pogge said.

In reality, he said this would amount to the richest half of the world reducing their prosperity from 97 percent to 94 percent.