Background
Global efforts to eliminate poverty are stagnating, due to convergence of crises, including the rising cost of living, climate change, and geopolitical conflicts. Despite notable progress in reducing extreme poverty, 150 million people in Asia and the Pacific, by some conservative measures, continue to live in extreme poverty. Poverty is not exclusive to low-income countries with hundreds of millions of people in moderate poverty or vulnerability in middle income countries. Overall, close to half of the total regional population, or 2.3 billion people, are either poor or vulnerable. Considering non-monetary aspects of poverty such as health and nutrition, education and living standards, over 500 million people in Asia and the Pacific are poor when multiple dimensions are considered. Consequently, the Pact for the Future rightfully recognizes that poverty in all forms and dimensions remains the greatest global challenge and that its eradication is an indispensable requirement for inclusive and sustainable development. The 2026 crisis in Western Asia has sparked new concerns about potential poverty impacts across the wider region, intensified by disruptions to energy markets, fertilizer markets, trade routes, food prices and remittance flows.
Against this background, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) has selected poverty eradication as the central theme of the Social Outlook for Asia and the Pacific 2026. The Social Outlook is a flagship publication that supports progress towards global development goals by strengthening policy frameworks, fostering collaboration and exchange of knowledge and solutions in the Asia Pacific region. Drawing on ESCAP’s multi-disciplinary mandates, the publication is well positioned to address the multiple dimensions of poverty and support the development of inclusive and evidence-based policies across a range of different policy domains.
In September 2025, ESCAP convened an Expert Group Meeting to present the concept and outline of the 2026 Social Outlook. The meeting brought together a diverse multistakeholder group of experts from across Asia and the Pacific, including representatives from governments, think-tanks, academia, civil society organizations and United Nations entities. Drawing on the substantive discussions and insights shared during the EGM, ESCAP prepared the first draft of the 2026 Social Outlook for Asia and the Pacific. The report (i) analyzes the current status and trends of poverty emphasizing its monetary and non-monetary dimensions (ii) explores various factors that contribute to poverty including proximate and structure causes, (iii) highlights effective social development strategies and interventions that have successfully reduced poverty in different contexts and (iv) provides policy recommendations emphasizing the need for regional collaboration and integrated approaches to tackle poverty. Building on this process, the upcoming EGM on 20-21 May 2026 will present preliminary results and seek further feedback from participants.
Objective
The objective of this second Expert Group Meeting (EGM) is to review the first draft of the 2026 Social Outlook for Asia and the Pacific, provide feedback on preliminary findings and provide suggestions for strengthened policy messages and recommendations on eradicating poverty and empowering people across Asia and the Pacific.
Organization and Participation
The EGM will draw participation from experts in academia, think-thanks, research institution, the United Nations system entities and governments. It will be organized online from 20 to 21 May 2026, with participants attending virtually via Zoom. The EGM will be facilitated by ESCAP and will feature presentations on three substantive chapters of the draft Social Outlook. Plenary discussions will elicit requisite information from all participants to strengthen the report. The EGM will be conducted in English.
The tentative programme for each session is provided on the Programme tab.