Poverty in the Pacific: Trends, Progress, and Challenges in the Early Twenty-First Century

Poverty persists in the Pacific but is characterized less by standard international measures of absolute or chronic deprivation than by vulnerability and volatility. Communities in the Pacific are generally small and remote, creating challenges for the provision of basic goods and services. Their economies rely heavily on external economic relations—trade, employment, and remittances and tourism and aid—including for essential commodities such as food and energy. Among sources of vulnerability, environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, and climate change impacts expose nations to shocks, often generating disasters which undermine the livelihoods of households. Over the past three decades progress has been made in reducing poverty and improving well-being; however, significant problems persist related to health and nutrition, access to services, employment, and livelihoods, and most countries have been slow to expand social protection systems to protect the most vulnerable. The Sustainable Development agenda offers the possibility of alternative development strategies that could favour ocean economies. However, this will require significant development assistance and investment from the international community at a time when aid budgets are coming under pressure from COVID-19. The global pandemic, with its travel, trade, and tourism restrictions, highlights the region’s susceptibility to external shocks and is reversing recent gains in poverty reduction.