First, I think it's a bit short to set the poverty line at US$ 1 a day and, once people earn US$ 1,1O, to say they are out of poverty! Hence my remark about the logarithmic scale above. That doesn't mean I don't acknowledge some progress has been made, but we have to be very careful about assertions in this field.

And to say that the income gap  between countries is closing, again using the same logarithmic scale, is questionable. It is particularly questionable if you look at data country by country and not by whole regions.

One important phenomenon is that, even if inequality between countries is still very high, it is gradually replaced by inequality within countries. In the current trend, we are heading towards a worldwide social stratification, with a global super-rich class getting richer and richer, a numerous middle-class stagnating in the developed countries and catching up in the developing ones, and a huge proletariat losing ground in developed countries and barely improving in the developing ones.

The only countries resisting this trend (so far) are Canada, European countries, (except for UK, maybe Ireland, and some Central European countries) and maybe Australia.    

"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet