Opinion: Contrary to Myth, Poverty on Wane, Gateses Say

Three “deeply damaging myths” about poverty foster unwarranted but persistent pessimism about the state of the developing world, Bill and Melinda Gates write in a Wall Street Journal opinion column adapted from their foundation’s annual letter.

Citing statistics on wealth, mortality, family size and other measures as well as observations from their travels with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the couple disputes that poor countries are doomed to stay poor, that foreign aid does not work, and that improvements in nutrition and health that save young lives will to overpopulation.

“By almost any measure, the world is better off now than it has ever been,” the Gateses say, noting plunging rates of poverty and child mortality and a growing number of formerly aid-reliant nations that are now self-sufficient and have burgeoning middle classes.