In 2024, around ** percent of the population in Kenya lived in extreme poverty, the majority in rural areas. Those living on less than **** U.S. dollars a day in rural regions added up to around **** million, while around *** million extremely poor people resided in urban areas. During the period observed, the poverty incidence in Kenya peaked in 2022, likely due to the disruption to the country's economy caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In 2025, *** percent of Kenya’s population live below **** U.S. dollars per day. This meant that over 8.9 million Kenyans were in extreme poverty, most of whom were in rural areas. Over *** million Kenyans in rural communities lived on less than **** U.S. dollars daily, an amount *** times higher than that recorded in urban regions. Nevertheless, the poverty incidence has declined compared to 2020. That year, businesses closed, unemployment increased, and food prices soared due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Consequently, the country witnessed higher levels of impoverishment, although improvements were already visible in 2021. Overall, the poverty rate in Kenya is expected to decline to ** percent by 2025. Poverty triggers food insecurity Reducing poverty in Kenya puts the country on the way to enhancing food security. As of November 2021, *** million Kenyans lacked sufficient food for consumption. That corresponded to **** percent of the country's population. Also, in 2021, over one-quarter of Kenyan children under five years suffered from chronic malnutrition, a growth failure resulting from a lack of adequate nutrients over a long period. Another *** percent of the children were affected by acute malnutrition, which concerns a rapid deterioration in the nutritional status over a short period. A country where prosperity and poverty walk side by side The poverty incidence in Kenya contrasts with the country's economic development. In 2021, Kenya ranked among the ten highest GDPs in Africa, at almost *** billion U.S. dollars. Moreover, its gross national income per capita has increased to ***** U.S. dollars over the last 10 years, a growth of above**** percent. Generally, while poverty decreased in the country during the same period, Kenya still seems to be far from reaching the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to eliminate extreme poverty by 2030.

In 2025, nearly 11.7 percent of the world population in extreme poverty, with the poverty threshold at 2.15 U.S. dollars a day, lived in Nigeria. Moreover, the Democratic Republic of the Congo accounted for around 11.7 percent of the global population in extreme poverty. Other African nations with a large poor population were Tanzania, Mozambique, and Madagascar. Poverty levels remain high despite the forecast decline Poverty is a widespread issue across Africa. Around 429 million people on the continent were living below the extreme poverty line of 2.15 U.S. dollars a day in 2024. Since the continent had approximately 1.4 billion inhabitants, roughly a third of Africa’s population was in extreme poverty that year. Mozambique, Malawi, Central African Republic, and Niger had Africa’s highest extreme poverty rates based on the 2.15 U.S. dollars per day extreme poverty indicator (updated from 1.90 U.S. dollars in September 2022). Although the levels of poverty on the continent are forecast to decrease in the coming years, Africa will remain the poorest region compared to the rest of the world. Prevalence of poverty and malnutrition across Africa Multiple factors are linked to increased poverty. Regions with critical situations of employment, education, health, nutrition, war, and conflict usually have larger poor populations. Consequently, poverty tends to be more prevalent in least-developed and developing countries worldwide. For similar reasons, rural households also face higher poverty levels. In 2024, the extreme poverty rate in Africa stood at around 45 percent among the rural population, compared to seven percent in urban areas. Together with poverty, malnutrition is also widespread in Africa. Limited access to food leads to low health conditions, increasing the poverty risk. At the same time, poverty can determine inadequate nutrition. Almost 38.3 percent of the global undernourished population lived in Africa in 2022.

This dataset was used for a report that provides an overview of three pilot cases of baseline data collection to better understand local communities’ dependence on marine resources and other livelihood activities, with emphasis on understanding the role of marine spatial zonation and resource manage-ment on poverty and gender equality. Pilot studies were conducted in Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar. This dataset only contains data from Kenya, in particular, from the Kwale county which is the southernmost coastal county. The survey employed a mixed-method crosssectional study design, collecting qualitative and quantitative data at different levels. The study adopted a multi-stage sampling procedure where three sub-counties in Kwale county that border the ocean front, Lunga Lunga, Msambweni, and Matuga were purposively selected in the first stage. In the second stage, nine locations bordering the ocean in these sub-counties were randomly selected, and thereafter villages selected randomly from the nine locations. The sampling of households in the villages was random and involved drawing transects across the villages and picking individual households randomly. The key method of primary data collection was face-to-face interviews. A survey questionnaire was developed. Quantitative data collection tools were digitized for electronic capture and transmission using Kobo Toolbox. The electronic questionnaire was uploaded to enumerators’ mobile smartphones using a unique Kobo Collect app. Data collected were submitted to a server daily. A total of 446 households were included in this dataset. This datasets is part of a wider data collection that comprises three countries: Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar.

This dataset was used for a report that provides an overview of three pilot cases of baseline data collection to better understand local communities’ dependence on marine resources and other livelihood activities, with emphasis on understanding the role of marine spatial zonation and resource manage-ment on poverty and gender equality. Pilot studies were conducted in Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar. This dataset only contains data from Madagascar, in particular, from three coastal bays in the north western regions of Boeny and Sofia, namely Bombetoka, Mahajamba and Sahamalaza bays. The data collection was confined to these bays due to the fact that most of the population is concentrated here and the remainder of the coasts of these two regions is largely inaccessible. Bombetoka, Mahajamba and Sahamalaza Bays are characterised by highly diverse marine ecosys-tems and contain mangrove forests, coral reefs, and seagrass beds. The survey employed a mixed-method cross sectional study design, collecting qualitative and quantitative data at different levels. The study adopted a multi-stage sampling. A total of 489 households were interviewed face-to-face. Households were sampled from the Bay of Sahamalaza in the Sofia region and the Bay of Mahajamba and Bombetoka in the Boeny region. Household sampling effort per village was guided by information on village populations from census data in each country. At the village level, households were randomly selected with the help of village headmen and given unique serial identifiers. A survey questionnaire was developed. Quantitative data collection tools were digitized for electronic capture and transmission using Kobo Toolbox. The electronic questionnaire was uploaded to enumerators’ mobile smartphones using a unique Kobo Collect app. Data collected were submitted to a server daily. This dataset is part of a wider data collection that comprises three countries: Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar.

This dataset was used for a report that provides an overview of three pilot cases of baseline data collection to better understand local communities’ dependence on marine resources and other livelihood activities, with emphasis on understanding the role of marine spatial zonation and resource manage-ment on poverty and gender equality. Pilot studies were conducted in Kenya, Tanzania and Madagascar. This dataset only contains data from Tanzania, in particular, from the Mkinga District within Tanga Region, which is located in the northeast of Tanzania. Mkinga District has a coastline of about 50 km on the Indian Ocean. The coastline of Tanga has approximately 100 distinct coral reefs which are located 1-10 km from the shore. This coastline has extensive mangrove forests and diverse fish species. The survey employed a mixed-method crosssectional study design, collecting qualitative and quantitative data at different levels. The project adopted a multi-stage sampling. A total of 564 households were interviewed face-to-face in seven wards along the most northern stretch of coast. A representative sample of households was selected from a total of 21 coastal villages in the wards of Boma, Doda, Kwale, Manza, Mayomboni, Moa and Mtimbwani. Wards were grouped according to the coastal stretch which they access. The sampling of households in the villages was random and involved drawing transects across the villages and picking individual households randomly. A survey questionnaire was developed. Quantitative data collection tools were digitized for electronic capture and transmission using Kobo Toolbox. The electronic questionnaire was uploaded to enumerators’ mobile smartphones using a unique Kobo Collect app. Data collected were submitted to a server daily. This datasets is part of a wider data collection that comprises three countries: Kenya, Tanzania, and Madagascar.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic impacted East Africa's poverty level. Extreme poverty rate in the region increased from ** percent in 2019 to ** percent in 2021. South Sudan and Brurundi had the highest share of population living on less than **** U.S. dollars per day, ** percent and ** percent, respectively.

As of 2024, some 6.9 million people in Ghana lived in extreme poverty, with the poverty threshold at 2.15 U.S. dollars per day. This stood as an increase from the previous year when roughly 6.8 million people lived in the said state of poverty. In 2026, around 6.7 million Ghanaians are expected to live on a maximum of 2.15 U.S. dollars daily.

Poverty in the country is segregated

Indeed, poverty figures do not considerably vary when considering men and women apart. In 2024, around 3.5 million men lived in extreme poverty in Ghana, while the count reached roughly 3.3 million for women. On the other hand, in distinguishing the state of extreme poverty among rural and urban dwellers, the difference is striking, even when based on the previously set poverty line of 1.90 U.S. dollars per day. Overall, 1.1 percent of the world's population in extreme poverty lived in Ghana as of 2024.

Ghana's Private Wealth Position in Africa

Ghana is one of the African countries with the highest private wealth concentration, ranking 6th after Kenya as of 2021. That year, the country's total private wealth amounted to 59 billion U.S. dollars, corresponding to around 1,900 U.S. dollars per capita. Between 2011 and 2021, the total wealth held by individuals in Ghana increased, representing a higher growth in comparison to other African countries save five. Overall, the nation ranks 9th in Africa in terms of countries with high net-worth individuals.