reduction in rural areas outpaced that in urban areas – demonstrating pro-poor development – and in Bangladesh and Democratic Republic of the Congo poverty fell at the same speed in rural and urban areas,” the UN said.

Overall, the study shows that globally, of the 1.3 billion people who are multidimensionally poor, more than two-thirds or 886 million now live in middle-income countries. A further 440 million live in low-income countries. One in three children worldwide is multidimensionally poor, compared to one in six adults. That means that nearly half of the people living in multidimensional poverty (663 million) are children, with the youngest children bearing the greatest burden.

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Women in World War I -- Belgian War Lace

Belgian War Lace

The laces made in Belgium during World War I are an important part of the lace holdings of the Division of Home and Community Life's Textile Collection in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. They are representative of laces made by about 50,000 lace makers, many of whom were women, throughout Belgium from 1914 through 1919, especially during the Great War.

In August 1914, the German army invaded and occupied Belgium. When Great Britain set up a blockade of the Belgian borders to prevent supplies from reaching Germany through Belgium, seven million Belgian people were cut off from imported food and other needed supplies. After the start of World War I the Commission for the Relief