Geneva, Sha'ban 12, 1437, May 19, 2016, SPA -- Welfare systems are not able to stop the rising poverty in developed countries, the International Labour Organziation (ILO) said Wednesday, pointing to persistent unemployment levels and the trend towards low-paying part-time jobs, according to dpa. In European countries, 17.2 per cent of the population were poor in 2014, up from 16.5 per cent in 2005, according to the latest available data. The poverty rate in the United States rose from 23.8 to 24.6 per cent during this time. "In many advanced economies, social protection is no longer able to make up for the income gap of working poor," said Guy Ryder, the head of the Geneva-based UN labour body. Since the global economic crisis in 2008, full-time positions have declined while part-time work has boosted the numbers of people who have jobs but fall below the poverty line, ILO said in its annual global employment report. The trend in wealthy countries stands in contrast to many developing and emerging economies, where poverty levels have plummeted in the past two decades. The share of people who live on less than 3.10 dollars a day in such countries fell from 67 to 36 per cent between 1990 and 2012. Driven by China and India, poverty rates dropped especially in Asia. Latin American countries also saw sharp declines. African countries have made less progress. Nearly two thirds of people on the continent continue to live in poverty. "Even where progress has been made, gains remain fragile," ILO warned. A big share of people who have been able to move out of poverty still only have a few dollars to spend every day, it pointed out. --SPA 01:05 LOCAL TIME 22:05 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w