Record Turnout for UN Anti-poverty Rally

It looks like everyone can agree that poverty is something we should end.

According to a report from the People's Daily Online, "more than 173 million people around the world joined forces with the United Nations to call on global leaders to stamp out poverty and take action to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by their deadline of 2015."

"We know that if we take a stand — if we act — we can end poverty in our lifetimes," said UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, at a ceremony at UN Headquarters in New York. More than 1,500 students from the UN International School joined the secretary-general at the ceremony, which called "for an end to hunger, which currently afflicts 1 billion people worldwide."

For its part, the UN said that, despite the worldwide global recession, "development assistance rose to record levels in 2008." It added, however, that although levels are high, "donors are falling short by $35 billion per year on the 2005 pledge on annual aid flows made by the Group of Eight in Gleneagles, and by $20 billion a year on aid to Africa."

The People's Daily cites estimates that "100 million people in Asia took part in the campaign, while Africa saw the participation of almost 40 million, the Arab region over 30 million, Europe more than 2 million, Latin America and North America some 200,000 each, and Oceania more than 170,000."

And that appears to be a record breaker.

"A Guinness World Record shattered this weekend when 173,045,325 citizens gathered at over 3,000 events in more than 120 countries, demanding that their governments eradicate extreme poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals," according to the End Poverty 2015 group.