Even if the poverty and hunger Millennium Development Goal is achieved, millions of the world’s poorest and hungry people will be left behind. New and different action is required to improve the welfare of these people.

When the Millennium Development Goals were adopted in 2000, 1.3 billion people were living in poverty and 800 million were food insecure. In the first of the eight MDGs, nearly 200 nations committed themselves to halve the proportion of poor and hungry people by 2015.

Although the world may meet this goal at the global level, many countries will not reach the goal and people are certain to be left behind. If we continue with “business as usual,” 700 million people worldwide are projected to remain poor, many of them extremely poor, in 2015, and 600 million to go hungry. There are indications that the people who are poorest and most afflicted by hunger may have different social and economic characteristics from those who have successfully emerged from poverty in recent decades. Reaching them will require new and different action.