Thanks to Rajesh Gopalakrishna for sharing the link
Here is a chapter-by-chapter breakdown and synopsis of The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey D. Sachs, published 2005.
1 A Global Family Portrait Presents a vivid portrait of extreme poverty in places such as Malawi, showing how basic human needs (food, water, health) are unmet despite modern global wealth. Introduces the moral as well as economic urgency of ending extreme poverty.
2 The Spread of Economic Prosperity Traces how economic growth and prosperity spread in some parts of the world over centuries, thanks to markets, institutions, technology — showing that prosperity is possible.
3 Why Some Countries Fail to Thrive Explores the “poverty trap” concept: how geography, disease, poor infrastructure, weak institutions and history combine to keep some countries from developing.
4 Clinical Economics Introduces a “clinical” approach to economics: diagnosing country-by-country, identifying needs (health, water, infrastructure), and treating them rather than only theorising.
5 Bolivia’s High-Altitude Hyperinflation Case study: Bolivia’s economic crisis, hyperinflation and reform in the 1980s, showing how macroeconomic instability derailed development and how reforms matter.
6 Poland’s Return to Europe Case study of Poland’s market transition after communism: how policy reforms enabled growth, illustrating that change is possible when institutions align.
7 Reaping the Whirlwind: Russia’s Struggle for Normalcy Looks at Russia’s post-Soviet transition, the failures of reform, weak institutions, and how development can stall even when growth prospects exist.
8 China: Catching Up After Half a Millennium Examines China’s dramatic leap in growth, the role of economic reforms, agricultural development, infrastructure and opening to world trade.
9 India’s Market Reforms: The Triumph of Hope Over Fear Focuses on India’s reforms, services and industrial growth, but also the still large challenges of infrastructure, health, and inequality in a big emerging economy.
10 The Voiceless Dying: Africa and Disease A central chapter on Africa: how disease (malaria, HIV/AIDS, TB) and weak infrastructure combine to keep millions in poverty, despite global knowledge of solutions.
11 The Millennium, 9/11, and the United Nations Connects global poverty to security, the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and how modern threats (terrorism, instability) link to underdevelopment.
12 On-the-Ground Solutions for Ending Poverty Moves from diagnosis to action: what kind of investments (in health, education, infrastructure) are needed in poor countries to enable growth.
13 Making the Investments Needed to End Poverty Details the scale of investment required: cost estimates for infrastructure, health, education, agriculture, and how they can be mobilised.
14 A Global Compact to End Poverty Argues for a global partnership: rich and poor countries working together, trade, aid, technology transfers — a compact to make eradication possible.
15 Can the Rich Afford to Help the Poor? Addresses concerns about affordability: how rich countries can finance foreign aid, how return on investment is not only moral but also economic and security-related.
16 Myths and Magic Bullets Warns against simplistic solutions: ending poverty isn’t about one policy or one charity — it requires many coordinated policies and sustained commitment.
17 Why We Should Do It Makes the moral, economic, humanitarian and security case for ending extreme poverty — why it is in our interests and the right thing to do.
18 Our Generation’s Challenge A concluding chapter: setting out the challenge for our generation, the timeframe (he argues by ~2025 it is possible to end extreme poverty), and the call to action.
Key themes to take away
Extreme poverty is not inevitable — it can be ended within our generation with the right mix of investments, institutions and global cooperation.
Markets matter, but only when the preconditions are met — health, infrastructure, education, property rights and connectivity.
Rich countries have a stake: helping the poor is not just charity but smart economics and global security.
Avoid over-simplified “magic bullet” solutions; real change is systemic and sustained.
Why extreme poverty persists
Sachs begins by showing how, despite global wealth, about a billion people live in extreme poverty (less than US $1/day).
He argues that many poor countries are caught in a poverty trap: adverse geography, disease burden, poor infrastructure, weak institutions and high transport costs mean these countries cannot progress using only local resources.
He also shows how the gap between rich and poor nations widened dramatically since the Industrial Revolution.
2. Case studies of development
Sachs provides country-level narratives: e.g., how Bolivia suffered hyperinflation and economic collapse; how Poland transitioned from communism to a market economy; how China achieved rapid growth; how India opened and grew; and how many African nations still face the most severe challenges. Through these he illustrates that development is possible when the right conditions align (health, education, infrastructure, markets, institutions).
3. Solutions and investments
A core part of the book outlines the kinds of investments needed: public health (malaria, HIV/AIDS, maternal/child health), education, clean water and sanitation, infrastructure (roads, ports), agricultural improvements, and technology access. Sachs argues that with modest but well-targeted aid (often cited as ~0.7% of rich countries’ GDP) and strong domestic policy, extreme poverty can be eradicated.
4. Global compact & moral case
He then frames ending poverty as an achievable moral, economic and security imperative. The rich countries, he argues, have both the ability and interest (global stability, markets, human dignity) to help. He advocates a global compact: aid + trade reform + technology transfer + strong commitments from poor-country governments.
5. Myths and challenges
Sachs also warns about oversimplified “magic bullet” solutions. He stresses that one-size-fits-all approaches don’t work; each country must tailor strategies to its geography, history and institutional capacity. He recognises risk: aid misuse, weak governance, investment failure.
6. Call to our generation
Finally, the book closes with a call: this generation has the chance to end extreme poverty within our lifetime — not an idealistic fantasy but a realistic project if the right policies, commitments and resources are aligned.
Key takeaways
Extreme poverty is not inevitable — Sachs argues it can be ended with sound economic policy + global cooperation.
Development requires more than markets: health, education, infrastructure and institutions matter.
Rich countries and poor countries are interconnected — aiding the poor helps everyone (economically and in terms of security).
Solutions must be tailored, sustained, and free from overly-optimistic “magic bullet” thinking.
The challenge is urgent and moral: our generation has the opportunity to make a lasting difference.
One of the central themes in the book and particularly interesting to a medical professional is the idea of “clinical economics”. The theory is that an economist should approach a problem in the same way as a doctor does, by first coming up with a differential diagnosis. In this, he makes several references to his wife Sonia, a practising paediatrician. He also devotes a great deal of the book to health‐related issues and tries to come up with public health approaches to lessen the burden of the major diseases in the world.
The challenge is our generation’s moral and practical project — Sachs suggests the year 2025 as a realistic target for ending extreme poverty.
The challenge is our generation’s moral and practical project — Sachs suggests the year 2025 as a realistic target for ending extreme poverty.
The book The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey D. Sachs was first published in 2005.
(Some editions list publication in early 2006 but the original publication year is 2005.)
Regarding the target year of 2025 that Sachs suggested for ending extreme poverty: we are now in 2025, and global data show the goal has not yet been achieved. For example:
As of 2025, approximately 808 million people are estimated to be living in extreme poverty (about 1 in 10 globally) under the updated poverty line.
(Source: UNSD)
The progress, while real in many regions, has slowed and key regions (especially Sub-Saharan Africa) remain far from the finish line.
(Source: World Bank Blogs)
So in short: the book was published in 2005, and though significant advances have been made, ending extreme poverty by 2025 remains a challenge rather than a completed achievement.
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