The world’s poorest countries have experienced a brutal decade

There are now a billion fewer people subsisting on less than $2.15 a day than in 2000. Each year since the turn of the millennium, a cast of aid workers, bureaucrats and philanthropists, who often claim credit for this extraordinary plunge in extreme poverty, has met on the sidelines of the UN’s General Assembly to celebrate progress in their catchphrase-cum-targets of “sustainable development goals”. When on September 22nd the latest gathering begins in New York, many will once again be feeling pleased with themselves.