The world economy will shrink 2.6 percent this year, with developing countries bearing the brunt of the decline, according to a United Nations report released on Wednesday. South and East Asia will be particularly hard hit, with another 80 million people falling into poverty, about half of that total in India alone, according to World Economic Situation and Prospects 2009 report. Global unemployment is expected to top 50 million over the next two years but the report warns that this number “could easily double” if the economy continues to slide. Returning migrants and reverse migration from urban to rural are significantly impacting the unemployment situation, the report said. Workers are at the lower end of the job ladder, including youth and female workers, are more likely to lose their jobs, the report predicts. The bleak outlook will also impact the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals, which set specific targets for poverty reduction by 2015, as governments will have less money to spend on social services.
