A global goal of halving poverty by 2015 is still achievable, the World Bank said Tuesday, but warned that nearly half of all developing countries are falling short of the target set a decade ago.

The economic crisis of the past two years has hampered efforts to reach the Millenium Development Goals, a series of targets for reducing poverty over 15 years that was set by world leaders in 2000.

The global recession means that 64 million less people will exit poverty in 2010 than would have otherwise. Yet the developing world was still expected to meet the chief goal of halving the number living in extreme poverty, or on less than $1.25 per day.

Progress is "uneven," the World Bank found in its annual report on the state of development. Just 49 of the 87 countries reviewed by the World Bank were on track to meet the poverty target by the 2015 deadline.

Countries in East Asia and the Pacific were leading the way, with the region expected to reduce poverty 90 per cent below 1990 levels by 2015. South Asia, the Middle East and Latin America were also expected to meet the goal, but sub-Saharan Africa was still lagging far behind.