Giving Compass' Take:

• Bill and Melinda Gates released their Goalkeepers Data Report in which they discuss the alarming rate at which global poverty is increasing and the need for the U.S. to make necessary adjustments. 

• How does the U.S. political climate impact global poverty? 

• Read about Bill Gates' fears for the future of global development. 

Bill and Melinda Gates released their second annual Goalkeepers Data Report yesterday, and raised new alarms about the future of the work to end hunger, poverty, inequality, and increase global health.

Their opening essay asks, “Is Poverty Inevitable?”

“We usually express our optimism by highlighting some of the recent mind-blowing improvements in the human condition—like the fact that advances in medicine have saved 50 million lives just since we started our foundation in 2000. We believe it’s worth repeating that until we’re blue in the face,” they begin.

Then they ripped the needle from the record.

“To put it bluntly,” they say, “decades of stunning progress in the fight against poverty and disease may be on the verge of stalling — the poorest parts of the world are growing faster than everywhere else; more babies are being born in the places where it’s hardest to lead a healthy and productive life. If current trends continue, the number of poor people in the world will stop falling—and could even start to rise.”

But as was the case last year, a shifting political landscape threatens to slow the work. Throw in global conflict, climate change, and the rise of movements hellbent on rolling back progressive policies, and it paints a picture of progress in real peril.

Read the full article about global poverty by Ellen McGirt at Fortune