Bill and Melinda Gates, who have devoted their current lives to eradicating worldwide starvation and preventable childhood diseases, are predicting that most of the currently underdeveloped world where poverty and starvation currently exist, will rise up to middle class status by 2035. By this date, the Gates believe “there will be almost no poor countries in the world.”
They predict, says the Wall Street Journal, that by that date, more than 70% of countries will have a higher per person income than China does today. There will be pockets where poverty will still exist, such as Haiti, North Korea, and some states in central Africa. But every country, Gates predicts, in South America, Asia, and Central America will have risen out of poverty.
The LA Times recently reported that the world’s 85 wealthiest people, just 85, hold $1.7 trillion in personal wealth which is just about equal to the total wealth of the poorest half of the entire earth’s population.
