Nothing has replaced most of them, leaving the region in the grip of some of the worst poverty in the nation.
This migration is mostly directed towards the United States, but it makes local poverty even worse.
If we cared as much about the poor as Bono does, couldn't the rich countries wipe out malaria and also eliminate the world's worst poverty?
His total price to fund the programs necessary to quickly end the worst poverty and convert to a sustainable economy is $161 billion per year.
But once they arrived, the four brothers found only worse poverty, in a place called the Lower East Side.
Worse, there is evidence that progress against the worst poverty slowed during a period of fantastic national growth.
Meanwhile Somalis themselves suffer extreme famine, made worse by violence and some of the worst poverty on earth.
In addition, some programs have been badly run and not directed at the worst poverty, which is rural.
Nicaragua, with Central America's worst poverty and lowest wages, is the only country that has had an expansion in its young garment industry.
The economic crisis has made poverty considerably worse.