New Delhi: India's ability to sustain an average growth of 5.6 per cent a year will be critical in achieving poverty reduction targets by 2015, a World Bank report has said.

"As per current estimates brisk economic growth in India and China will enable the world to reach the overall goal of halving global poverty by 2015," the World Bank said in its latest World Development Indicators.

As per the report, South Asia has experienced rapid growth averaging 5.9 per cent a year since 1990, which has helped reduce poverty substantially.

The report shows that prospects of reaching the Millennium Development Goals vary by region. Fast growing East Asia could reach the poverty goals with the number of people living in extreme poverty expected to drop by almost 80 per cent but Sub- Saharan Africa remains an area of concern.

In East Asia, the number of people living on less than a Dollar a day was 432 million in 1990, which declined to 260 million by 1999 and is expected to be down to 59 million by 2015.

For South Asia, the figure was 495 million in 1990, which is expected to fall to 279 million by 2015, the report said.

Though the South Asian region has made gains in reducing mortality in children under five years, little progress has been made in reducing malnutrition, it said, adding that resurgence of tuberculosis and the threat of HIV/AIDS are a cause for concern.

Taking the world as a whole, the report said despite progress in recent years, both rich and poor countries need to do much more if the international community is to meet its commitment made at the UN International Conference on Financing and Development in Monterrey, Mexico to halve global poverty in the world by 2015.

Data shows that progress is uneven and too many regions and countries are falling far short of their goals, it said.

"The past decade has been a good one for opening up markets to goods from poor countries and a bad one for increasing foreign aid flows. We know development can work. Yet 1.2 billion people live on less than one Dollar a day," Nicholas Stern, World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice President said.

PTI