Fiji poverty level at 45 percent

New statistics revealed at a conference held in Fiji finds that almost half of the island residents live in poverty. The government of Fiji hopes a new poverty reduction plan will drop that to only 15 percent by the year 2020.

From this AFP article that we found at WA Today, we find out more about the new statistics.

In a bid to improve the living conditions in Fiji, the local government dedicated $FJD1.5 billion ($A8.37 million) to poverty eradication programs between 2000 and 2008, the Fiji Times reported.

Despite this, poverty had increased since 2000, and now 360,000 people - 45 per cent of the population - are struggling, a Household and Income and Expenditure Survey, presented at the conference this week, revealed.

Director of International Initiative for Impact Evaluation, and the event's facilitator, Howard White, said poverty has risen more than 10 per cent in the country since 2007.