Bill Gates predicts there will be very few poor countries by 2035

Shawn Knight

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Microsoft co-founder turned philanthropist Bill Gates believes that by 2035, there will be almost no poor countries left in the world. By learning from their most productive neighbors and benefiting from innovations like new vaccines, better seeds and the digital revolution, nearly all countries will be what we now refer to as lower-middle income or richer according to an annual letter released by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The letter also tries to dispel what he says are three common myths about global poverty: poor countries are doomed to stay poor, foreign aid is a big waste and saving lives leads to overpopulation. Gates said they hear these myths raised at international conferences, at social gatherings and they even get asked about them by politicians, reporters, students and CEOs.

The World Bank defines poor as any country with a gross national income per capita of $1,035 or less per year in 2012 dollars. At present, 36 countries fall into this category but the good news is that it wouldn’t take too much additional income for some to rise above poverty.

For example, the income level per capita in the Kyrgyz Republic would only need to increase by five percent over the next 20 years to be considered a middle-income nation. Other regions, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, would need to increase income by a factor of five to reach the same level, however.

While the forecast may seem lofty, Gates is a realist and knows that not all nations will make it by 2035. Some, he said, will be held back by war, politics or geography while inequality will still remain an issue for others.

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He may have a big bank account, but that's as far as it goes. His ability to predict future have always been laughable, same as this one.
 
It is definitely good to see someone ultra-rich giving away 90% his fortune to help others instead of seeking the next billion dollars. You did good, Bill.
 
I predict that the u.s.a. will become a poor nation by 2035.
with its penchant for unnecessary wars it cannot sustain financially, the u.s.a. will fall.

The letter also tries to dispel what he says are three common myths about global poverty: poor countries are doomed to stay poor, foreign aid is a big waste and saving lives leads to overpopulation.

India, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines = overpopulation = opportunity due to available skilled workers (?)
 
This guy should stick to computers
He may have a big bank account, but that's as far as it goes. His ability to predict future have always been laughable, same as this one.

He's not doing computers anymore, he's full time saving lives through vaccinations, sanitation and a bunch of other things. His predictions are pretty reasonable, and it's not like he's just blindly saying this stuff. He's working towards it every day. He's most likely just projecting forward the progress they're making right now, not making wild guesses.

I think you guys don't like Bill because you don't like MS, but he doesn't work there anymore. He took his fortune and started a foundation and now he's doing as much to help rid the world of poverty as any other single person alive.
 
This guy should stick to computers
He may have a big bank account, but that's as far as it goes. His ability to predict future have always been laughable, same as this one.

He's not doing computers anymore, he's full time saving lives through vaccinations, sanitation and a bunch of other things. His predictions are pretty reasonable, and it's not like he's just blindly saying this stuff. He's working towards it every day. He's most likely just projecting forward the progress they're making right now, not making wild guesses.

I think you guys don't like Bill because you don't like MS, but he doesn't work there anymore. He took his fortune and started a foundation and now he's doing as much to help rid the world of poverty as any other single person alive.


Right I like all the hate about Bill Gates and Microsoft. He s kicking a$$ or at least trying which is more than we can say about the people who's jobs its is. And without Microsoft pc's would not be here today. Then again there is that camp of 50 world wide people who bash Microsoft that use Linux
 
Bill Gates predicts there will be very few poor countries by 2035? who he think its GOD? to predict. Normal behavior
 
Bill Gates is right and its not really a prediction.

Most of it is happening now.

I used to think that many countries had out of control populations, that caused their poverty and nothing could be done to solve the problem.

Totally wrong!

If you think in terms of population replacement.. then a woman would have around 2 children in her lifetime.

I think it would surprise most people what the current rates around the world are.

China has a lower replacement rate the the US. India, Indonesia and the Philippines aren't that much higher than the US.

Go visit the official CIA Website and see what the current rates around the World are.

Almost all of the countries with high population replacement are in Africa.

Fix the education, economy and health in Africa and their population will slow down too.
 
I predict that the u.s.a. will become a poor nation by 2035.
with its penchant for unnecessary unfunded entitlements that it cannot sustain financially, the u.s.a. will fall.

Fixed your quote for you :)
Firstly its easy to be philanthropic when it doesn't actually affect your living standards.
Secondly about the wars? is that the correct word? or should it be stabilization and nation building?....well what ever you call it I don't think the USA should do what they are doing now....it is just too expensive and long term and when they pull out after doing what they can these societies just fall back into chaos....No in such situations I believe the rod to be more effective than the carrot.
 
Fix the education, economy and health in Africa and their population will slow down too.

This is true, there have been various studies showing that developing countries have high birth rates that decrease as the nation becomes developed.
 
Firstly its easy to be philanthropic when it doesn't actually affect your living standards.
Secondly about the wars? is that the correct word? or should it be stabilization and nation building?....well what ever you call it I don't think the USA should do what they are doing now....it is just too expensive and long term and when they pull out after doing what they can these societies just fall back into chaos....No in such situations I believe the rod to be more effective than the carrot.

I didn't change it because it wasn't real, I changed it because it's not what would make the USA poor. According to nationalpriorities.org the cost of the war in Afghanistan as been $660 billion since 2001, and was $91.5 billion in 2013. I believe that those costs will go down in the coming years.

Compare that to the projected costs of medicare, social security, and medicaid. They're projected to be around $90 Trillion (according to the wall street journal http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323353204578127374039087636)

Since you're a fan of analogies... if we're talking about what's going to bankrupt the US, we should worry about the steak and not the peas. :)
 
I love the guy. and his generosity in various charities. but did he just try to convince the public that the world will have no poor after research last week showed that 85 richest in the world owned half of world's population's wealth?
 
You require a history lesson, look up a little company called IBM
Depends what context you're looking at. If you define "PC" by x86, then yes. If you define "pc" as "personal computer/computing" then there are a host of 8-bit based systems that pre-date IBM's involvement.
 
I think you guys don't like Bill because you don't like MS, but he doesn't work there anymore

My post was precisely on the basis as I explained - short-sighted predictions Bill Gates made in the past for the IT industry. No need to make stuff up that's not there.
 
JWRLive said:
Fix the education, economy and health in Africa and their population will slow down too.

Not until they first fix their primitive cultures and attitudes which are the real obstacles to progress.
 
I really think the us will become poor as these countries become rich. And who buys all their products? Not them. The us buys all their gizmos. If I were ceo of apple, I'd make everything in the us or robotize it. And with apple's profit margin, they could afford to. Time to forget investments and get with the payroll. Only a select few (90 people have half the worlds wealth?) make it with investments.
 
Fbarnett said:
Then again there is that camp of 50 world wide people who bash Microsoft that use Linux

Those Linux users who bash Microsoft are miserable *****s who are just jealous that Windows is a successful platform.
 
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