Economic growth is not the answer to ending poverty
For close to a century, we have been led to believe that growing the economy is the surest route out of poverty. During his mandate as the UN’s leading poverty expert, the former UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights Olivier De Schutter began to question this accepted wisdom.
Today we live on a planet that has never been wealthier, with global billionaire wealth growing by roughly $5.7 billion a day in 2024. Yet the number of people still living in poverty – around 3.5 billion according to the World Bank – has barely changed since 1990.
Inequality is spiralling. Chasing endless GDP growth is making the rich richer, while people in poverty are driven to exhaustion in poorly paid, often dangerous jobs to satisfy the needs of a tiny elite.
The endless quest for growth at all costs, and the escalating use of the natural resources it demands, is also pushing our planet far beyond its limits. Six of the nine “planetary boundaries” – Earth’s life-support systems – have already been crossed.
Our fixation with economic growth at all costs is exhausting the planet and its people. New Economies for Eradicating Poverty was launched in 2025 by the Special Rapporteur to connect and mobilise all those working on new ways to end poverty that go beyond profit, beyond the short term and beyond the interests of the few.
At the heart of this work is the Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth which will be presented to the UN in summer 2026. The Roadmap will offer policymakers with a catalogue of concrete policy options that can shift our economy away from profit-at-all-costs and towards fulfilling human rights.
Our Story
2020
Olivier De Schutter is appointed UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights by the UN Human Rights Council for a three-year term.
2022
De Schutter is invited to the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis and asked to provide a diagnosis of global poverty and the most effective strategies to eradicate it.
The text – which draws on his years of conversations and collaboration with governments, civil society, academics and thousands of individuals experiencing poverty – is later published as a book, The Poverty of Growth.
2023
With his position as Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights renewed by the UN Human Rights Council for a second three-year term, De Schutter announces his intention to dedicate the remainder of his mandate to dispelling the myth that economic growth is the answer to ending poverty.
2024
De Schutter presents a groundbreaking report to the UN Human Rights Council on Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth, challenging conventional poverty reduction strategies and arguing for a new, post-growth approach to tackling poverty.
In his presentation of the report, De Schutter announces his intention to convene a broad coalition of actors to co-create a Roadmap for Eradicating Poverty Beyond Growth – a catalogue of practical policy options to fight poverty than prioritise human well-being over GDP growth.
2025
As work progresses on the Roadmap, De Schutter launches New Economies for Eradicating Poverty to host the Roadmap and connect and mobilise all those working on new ways to end poverty that go beyond GDP.
2026
An advance copy of the Roadmap is presented at a major international convening at the ILO in Geneva.
