JUDY WOODRUFF, CNN ANCHOR: A United Nations poverty conference opened Monday in Geneva. The aim, to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015. But with an estimated 400 poor children worldwide dying each hour, that is 4 million deaths a year, the outlook for the world's poor remains grim.</s>WOODRUFF (voice-over): Half of the world's population, some 3 billion people, live on less than $2 a day. For the United Nations, it is a sobering statistic. The U.N. launched a global campaign against poverty in 1995: 117 countries pledged their commitment, but only 38 have since set solid targets for poverty reduction. And this week, U.N. delegates attending a Geneva summit will learn how the number of people living in absolute poverty has grown since they last met. Armed conflicts are contributing to increased poverty, as are natural disasters and financial crises. And international donors are offering less assistance than in the past; 1.2 billion people now eke out a living on less than $1 a day. In some countries, however, progress is being made. In China's Jiangxi province, workers pick oranges from high-yielding trees planted under the U.N. program. The trees are more than a source of income. They also help prevent the erosion which has forced many rural Chinese to flood to the cities. Farmers are also encouraged to raise pigs because their waste can produce gas which can be burned for fuel. In Yemen, a government project is now underway to rehouse people expelled from the Gulf states during the Gulf War, but progress is slow. Meantime, these dock workers in Abidjan have not been paid for their labor. They lose a day's work by waiting in queues to demand their wages.
U.N. Conference on Poverty Looks to Find Solutions For Millions Living in Dire Conditions