According to a report from UN agencies, Brazil has already reached 78% of its Millennium Goal of eradicating extreme poverty. And Rômulo Paes, of the Ministry of Social Development and Hunger Combat, says that with the programs the government has in place today, it will be possible to eradicate extreme poverty in Brazil before 2015 - the deadline set in the Millennium Goals pact.

"With regard to hunger, Brazil has made a series of policy decisions that have resulted in more people having access to better and more nutritious food. We can meet the Millennium deadline. With regard to extreme poverty, we have made significant progress and we believe we can beat the deadline," says Paes.

The standard reference used for extreme poverty is a daily income of US$ 1 or less. "In Brazil, we have raised this to US$ 1.15 and we are even giving financial support to people above that level. So, we are fairly certain about our capacity to eradicate extreme poverty," said Paes.

According to a UN report, the percentage of the Brazilian population living below the poverty line fell from 23.4% in 1990, to 14.2% in 2004.

ABr

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