A basic needs measure, which compares incomes to local costs of essential goods, reveals that the World Bank's claim that extreme poverty has plummeted is misleading. This data shows the global poverty rate fell only slightly from 23% to 17% between 1980-2011, with the actual number of poor people rising to 1.2 billion.
Markets failed to meet humanity's basic needs, despite the global economy having more than enough capacity to end deprivation.