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SDG 1 · No Poverty Read free →

SDG 1 · No Poverty

Half the world doesn't know if $3 a day is coming.

Eco Heroes turns that fact into a story a 6-year-old can hold onto — The Tree Woman, free to read, no account needed.

The target, in plain language

What the UN actually promised

Target 1.1

"By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere."

Written in 2015 against that year's poverty line ($2.15/day). The World Bank updated the working poverty line to $3.00/day (2021 PPP) in 2025 — the target's ambition hasn't changed, the ruler measuring it has.

Target 1.2 goes further: cut poverty in all its forms — not just income — by half, for everyone, everywhere, measured by each country's own definition.

Why it matters

The number behind the story

826M
people are still living in extreme poverty today That's 1 in 10 people on Earth, surviving on less than $3.00 a day (2021 PPP). Since 2015, that share has fallen by only three percentage points.

Source: UN SDG Indicators 2026 report, unstats.un.org — figure current as of 2026.

The story

The Tree Woman

The Tree Woman — SDG 1 book cover

The Tree Woman

Written by Ricardo Alcántara (Premio Lazarillo) · Illustrated by Noemí Villamuza (Premio Junceda)

Book 1 of 17 in The Eco Heroes SDG Library — one illustrated story per UN Sustainable Development Goal. Free to read in full, no account required. Available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Catalan.

Bring it into the room

Talk about it, try it

Discuss

One question to ask after reading

"What's one thing you have that you didn't earn — and one thing someone worked hard for that you take for granted?" There's no wrong answer; the point is noticing the difference.

Try it — 15 minutes

Map who keeps your street running

Walk or think through your neighbourhood and list every job that has to happen for it to work — bin collection, the corner shop, the bus driver. Talk about which of those jobs pay enough to live on.

Sixteen more goals, sixteen more stories

Every SDG gets its own illustrated book, its own facts, its own free sample. SDG 1 is always free — the rest unlock with a school, family or hotel plan.

Explore the full library →