At the United Nations in 2000, 189 countries adopted the so-called Millennium Development Goals, including halving poverty rates by 2015, cutting child mortality, turning the tide of AIDS, and educating all children.

"We are very concerned that, based on current trends, most of Millennium Development Goals will not be met by most developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa," said a statement by the policymaking Development Committee of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

"All parties, developing and developed countries and the international institutions, must urgently enhance concerted action to accelerate progress towards these goals."

A World Bank study found the proportion of people living in dire poverty was nearly halved in the two decades to 2001 but progress was strikingly uneven, with millions in Africa and Latin America left out of dramatic gains seen in Asia.

Thanks to spectacular victories by China and India against extreme poverty, defined as existence on less than a dollar a day, the world is on track to securing a reduction by half in the 1990 global poverty rate -- 28 percent -- by 2015.

But in a stark contrast to east and south Asia, poverty in the 20-year period under study deepened in sub-Saharan Africa.

The number of people making do on less than a dollar a day shot up from 164 million, 42 percent of the population, to 314 million, r 47 percent.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the World Bank, there was only marginal progress against poverty. The proportion of poor in the region in 2001 was about the same as in 1981, 10 percent.

The meeting of the Development Committee provided a grim to conclusion to a generally self-congratulatory weekend of discussions among the Group of Seven industrialized nations, and the 184-member World Bank and IMF.

"The global economic recovery continued to strengthen and broaden since we met in February," said finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven industrialized countries -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- after a meeting Saturday.

"Prospects are favorable and although risks remain, such as energy prices, overall the balance of risks to the outlook has improved."

The same prognosis was repeated by the broader financial community in weekend meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which expects world growth to speed from 3.9 percent last year to 4.6 percent in 2004 -- the fastest since 2000 -- and 4.4 percent in 2005.