COMCEC Poverty Outlook 2016:
Human Development in OIC
1
Introduction
The Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organisation of
Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC) has been working to enhance trade and economic cooperation
among the Member Countries since 1984. Poverty alleviation occupies a significant place in the
agenda of the COMCEC. Indeed, it is one of the six cooperation areas of the COMCEC Strategy
adopted in 2012. Within this context, Poverty Alleviation Working Group has been established.
The Working Group has held 7 meetings since 2013. The 8th Meeting will be held on 3rd
November, 2016 with the theme of “Forced Migration in the OIC Member Countries: Policy
Framework Adopted by Host Countries”.
Poverty alleviation is an important component within economic and social development.
Although most of the developing countries have experienced significant progress in poverty
alleviation in recent years, poverty levels are still high for a substantial number of countries.
Especially, the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia account for nearly half of the total
poor living in developing countries. The global financial and food crises that have been
encountered in the recent period have also worsened this situation.
Although the total population of the OIC Member Countries accounts for nearly one-fourth of
the world’s total population, their total GDP accounted for only 8.6 percent of the total world
GDP in 2015. On the other hand, per capita GDP levels vary across the OIC Member Countries,
(i.e. $954 in Niger, $143,788 in Qatar)1 . The poverty status also displays a diverse picture in
the OIC countries, since poverty headcount ratios in the Member Countries vary from zero to
62 percent.
Like the monetary poverty indicators that are mentioned above, non-monetary poverty
indicators also vary across the OIC Member Countries. In this respect, their Human
Development Index values are between 0.856 and 0.348, Multidimensional Poverty Index
values are between 0.004 and 0.584, and Global Hunger Index values are between zero and
46.4.
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) lead to a significant consciousness in poverty
alleviation and contribute to the national efforts to a great extent. By the end of 2015 the MDGs
process was completed. The Sustainable Development Goals and a new development agenda
was launched in 2016.
The aim of this report is to provide an overview on the human development progress both at
global and OIC level. Within this framework, in the first section the poverty situation in the
World and the OIC Member Countries is examined briefly both in monetary and non-monetary
terms. In the second section, human development progress in the OIC Member Countries is
analyzed. The efforts towards poverty alleviation are explained in the third section.
1The World Bank, 2015a.