Extreme poverty in developing countries fell 25% since 1990 and may be further halved so long as economic growth rates in those countries maintain their pace, the World Bank said in an annual report of poverty.

The number of people in “extreme poverty,” or living on $1 a day, may be slashed to 600 million by 2015 from 1.1 billion in 2001, or 21% of the population of developing countries, the World Bank said in its annual World Development Indicators report. That figure was cut from 1.2 billion in 1990, even as the world population grew by about 750 million people in the 1990s.

“Global prospects for achieving the income poverty goal are good, thanks to strong economic growth in China, India, and other countries in Asia,” the study says, citing the poverty elimination goals of the Millennium Declaration of 2000. “But malnutrition persists even in rapidly growing economies, and millions of people are hungry.”

Developing Asian countries must sustain their high growth rates while Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Africa need to boost growth rates, the report said. Countries need to work to improve access to schools, health care, and sanitation, and provide equal opportunities for women, while resolving conflicts and seeking improved cooperation between the developing world and the industrialized countries, the report said.

“There is little doubt that the proportion of people living under $1 a day will be halved by 2015,” the World Bank’s chief economist, Francois Bourguignon, said at briefing in Washington.

China, the world’s most populous country, is leading in poverty reduction. In 1980, more than 60% of Chinese lived on less than $1 a day. That number was halved by 1990 and again by 2001 due to the country’s economic growth rates. Excluding China, where the International Monetary Fund is projecting growth of 8.5% this year, the poverty rate in developing countries has been falling by about half a percentage point a year.

Still, the number of people living on less than $2 a day – including those living on less than $1, increased to 2.7 billion in 2001 from 2.4 billion in 1981, the World Bank said. Those living on between $1 and $2 a day, or considered living in “poverty,” are “are still very poor and remain vulnerable to economic slowdowns,” the report said.

People in sub-Saharan Africa living in “extreme poverty” rose to 46.4% of the population in 2001, or about 313 million people, from 44.6% in 1990.

“This level of deprivation should serve as an urgent call to action” for Africa, Bourguignon said. “Reversing this trend will require higher rates of economic growth, with the benefits of growth reaching the poor.”

Extreme poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean fell to 9.5% of the population in 2001, or about 50 million, from 11.3% in 2001, the report said.

Due to India’s rapid growth, South Asia cut extreme poverty to 31.3%, or about 431 million, from 41.3%, while East Asia, which includes China, along with other countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Indonesia, cut extreme poverty to 14.9%, or about 271 million people, from 29.6%, the study said.