However, in relative terms, the proportion of people living in extreme poverty has been declining since 1990 in both the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPC) and in the least developed countries. However, the numbers of people living in extreme poverty have been on the decline since the early 1990s. Small island developing States will also have to redouble their efforts, given the slackened pace of poverty reduction they experienced between 1999 and 2005, which was considerably slower than that experienced between 1990 and 1999.