International Day for the eradication of Poverty 2021; October 17th

Theme: “Building Forward Together: Ending Persistent Poverty, Respecting all People and our Planet”. . International Day for the Eradication of Poverty 2021.

The experience of the past year has highlighted once again that people living in extreme poverty are the ones most exposed, least resourced and suffer the most from the double sentence of the climate emergency and the pandemic. People living in poverty are in the frontline of the impact of climate change with severe droughts bringing hunger and intense floods wiping away crop fields, leading to loss of livelihoods and deepening poverty. They work largely in the informal sector and often live in low-quality, unsafe housing in unhealthy environments next to dumping sites or in unsafe areas along mountain edges or swamps. When an environmental disaster strikes, their homes and lives are the first to be destroyed. Climate refugees are on the increase and people living in poverty are victims of environmental destruction, often forgotten by the state.

Join the #EndPoverty global campaign

Everyone can join the campaign on social media by using hashtag #EndPoverty and promoting the call to action to connect with people from around the world who have joined the fight to overcome poverty.

In addition to the commemorative event to be held in New York on 17 October, commemorations of the international day are being organized worldwide. The online community is asked to use #EndPoverty to share messages about the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty via social media.

October 17th presents an opportunity to acknowledge the effort and struggle of people living in poverty, a chance for them to make their concerns heard, and a moment to recognize that poor people are the first ones to fight against poverty. Participation of the poor themselves has been at the center of the Day’s celebration since its very beginning. The commemoration of the International Day for the eradication of Poverty on October 17th also reflects the willingness of people living in poverty to use their expertise to contribute to the eradication of poverty.

This year the UN event will take place on October 15, 2021 from 10:00am to 11:30am Eastern Time (US and Canada). 

This year’s event features:

• - Messages from activists living in poverty facing the impact of Covid-19, climate change or environmental degradation.
• - Message from the UN system and statements by Ambassadors.
• - Multi-stakeholder Dialogues on eradicating poverty through social and environmental justice.

Accelerating global actions for a world without poverty.

A system-wide plan of action for the Third United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018–2027)

To eradicate poverty by 2030, given current rates of population growth, it will be necessary to reduce by about 110 million every year the number of people living on less than $1.90 a day. The United Nations system plays an important role in meeting that global challenge. The present section highlights priority areas of the response of the United Nations system as an integral component of global action for the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda. While the support of the United Nations system is necessary, it will have the most impact when countries put in place the right integrated policies to fight poverty at the local, national and regional levels, supported by an enabling international environment, as recognized in relevant resolutions adopted by Member States.

Download the Report of the Secretary-General on the “Implementation of the Third United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2018–2027)”