In contrast, the share of the world’s extremely poor people increased in South Asia, from 29 per cent in 1981 to 43 per cent in 2005. The share of poor people in sub-Saharan Africa more than doubled over the same period, having gone from 11 per cent in 1981 to 28 per cent in 2005. These changes are partly accounted for by high rates of population growth in the absence of strong economic and productive employment growth, as well as by the failure in both regions to achieve significant structural change.