Keywords and Definitions

Extreme Poverty: To track progress towards ending extreme poverty by 2030 the United Nations relies on the World Bank to estimate the share of people living below a certain threshold, called the International Poverty Line (IPL). In June 2025, the World Bank announced a major change to this line, raising it significantly, from $2.15 to $3 per day. However, the UN emphasizes that extreme poverty is fundamentally about more than just money. Officially, the UN defines it as a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services. (World Bank, 2026)

Sustainable Development: Meeting the social, environmental and economic needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs (e.g. climate change, inequality and human rights, biodiversity loss, deforestation, waste and pollution). (United Nations Development Programme, 2024)

Social Protection: Social protection, or social security, provides benefits to individuals on the basis of risks faced across the life cycle (e.g., unemployment, disability, maternity, etc.) and to those suffering general poverty and social exclusion. Social protection schemes can be financed through contributions from wages (social insurance) or through general taxation (social assistance) (International Labour Organization [ILO], n.d.).

Income Inequality: Income inequality is the unequal distribution of household or individual income across a population, representing the gap between the highest earners and the rest of society. It measures how unevenly earnings, capital income, and transfers are shared, commonly analyzed using metrics like the Gini coefficient (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], n.d.).

Official Development Assistance (ODA): Official Development Assistance (ODA) are resource flows to countries and territories which are: (a) undertaken by the official sector; (b) with promotion of economic development and welfare as the main objective; (c) at concessional financial terms (implying a minimum grant element depending on the recipient country and the type of loan). In addition to financial flows, technical co-operation is also included (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], n.d., ODA).

Developing Countries: The United Nations (UN) does not have a formal, official definition for "developing country," but uses the term for monitoring purposes to describe nations with low, or low-to-moderate, standards of living, industrialization, and human development. Over 150 nations are often classified under this broad umbrella, focusing on economic and social indicators (Khokhar & Serajuddin, 2015).

Least Developed Countries (LDCs): The countries lowest on the scale of development according to low income, human resource weakness and economic vulnerability criteria (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development [UNCTAD], 2024).

Food Insecurity: Food insecurity is a situation where an individual cannot reliably access or afford healthy food. The FAO describes a moderately food insecure person as someone who cannot afford a healthy diet, has experienced uncertainty about the ability to access food, and is likely to skip meals occasionally because of lack of resources. A severely food insecure person has at times run out of food and has during the last year gone a whole day without food. For SDG indicator 2.1.2, food insecurity is estimated based on survey data using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale developed by FAO. It consists of eight questions pertaining to whether the respondents or their families have reduced the quantity or quality of consumed food over the last 12 months because of lack of resources (Anthem, P., 2025).

Economic Growth: Economic growth is defined primarily through the lens of sustainable development, focusing on sustained, inclusive, and sustainable growth, typically measured by increases in real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or GDP per capita over time. It emphasizes boosting productivity, fostering technological innovation, and improving living standards without degrading the environment (United Nations, n.d.).

List of References

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Habitat for Humanity Great Britain. (2018, September). Relative vs absolute poverty. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from  https://www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk/relative-absolute-poverty/ 

Hasell, J., Rohenkohl, B., Arriagada, P., Ortiz-Ospina, E., & Roser, M. (2022). Poverty. Our World in Data. Retrieved June 29, 2026, from  https://ourworldindata.org/poverty

International Labour Organization. (n.d.). Social protection. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://www.ilo.org/topics-and-sectors/social-protection

Khokhar, T., & Serajuddin, U. (2015, November 16). Should we continue to use the term “developing world”? World Bank Blogs. Retrieved July 10, 2026, from https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/should-we-continue-use-term-developing-world

Mahler, D. G., Holla, A., & Serajuddin, U. (2024, January 23). Time to stop referring to the “developing world”. World Bank Blogs. Retrieved July 10, 2026, from https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/time-stop-referring-developing-world

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (n.d.). Income inequality. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/income-inequality.html

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (n.d.). Official development assistance (ODA). Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/official-development-assistance-oda.html 

United Nations. (n.d.). Goal 8: Decent work and economic growth. United Nations Sustainable Development. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/economic-growth/

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. (2024). Glossary 2024. SDG Pulse. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://sdgpulse.unctad.org/glossary-2024/ 

United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. (2024). Conference of European Statisticians' guidelines for measuring circular economy: Part A: Conceptual framework, indicators and measurement framework. United Nations. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://doi.org/10.18356/9789213586686

United Nations Institute for Training and Research. (2005). A glossary of terms for UN delegates: Multilateral conferences and diplomacy. UNITAR. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://unitar.org/sites/default/files/media/publication/doc/Glossary_E_0.pdf

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World Bank Group. (2026). Atlas of global development 2026. Retrieved May 3, 2026, from https://data360.worldbank.org/en/atlas/