Have We Already Met the Millennium Development Goals?

In a new book, Surjit Bhalla purports to overturn prevailing views on how much progress the developing world has been making against absolute poverty. Indeed, Bhalla claims that by 2000 we had already met the Millennium Development Goal of halving the 1990 incidence of extreme poverty - 15 years ahead of time. This would be good news, if it was right. The article offers a critical assessment of Bhalla's arguments and evidence.