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.

In 2025, around ***** million people in Africa were living in extreme poverty, with the poverty threshold at **** U.S. dollars a day. The number of poor people on the continent dropped slightly compared to the previous year. Poverty in Africa is expected to decline slightly in the coming years, even in the face of a growing population. The number of inhabitants living below the extreme poverty line would decrease to around *** million by 2030.

Extreme poverty in Africa is prevalent in rural areas. In 2024, ** percent of the continent's rural population was living with less than **** U.S. dollars a day. On the other hand, extreme poverty concerns only ***** percent of the urban population.

Historical dataset showing Africa poverty rate by year from N/A to N/A.

Historical dataset showing Sub-Saharan Africa poverty rate by year from 1990 to 2019.

South Africa ZA: Poverty Headcount Ratio at National Poverty Lines: % of Population data was reported at 55.500 % in 2014. This records an increase from the previous number of 53.200 % for 2010. South Africa ZA: Poverty Headcount Ratio at National Poverty Lines: % of Population data is updated yearly, averaging 58.800 % from Dec 2005 (Median) to 2014, with 4 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 66.600 % in 2005 and a record low of 53.200 % in 2010. South Africa ZA: Poverty Headcount Ratio at National Poverty Lines: % of Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Africa – Table ZA.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. National poverty headcount ratio is the percentage of the population living below the national poverty lines. National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys.; ; World Bank, Global Poverty Working Group. Data are compiled from official government sources or are computed by World Bank staff using national (i.e. country–specific) poverty lines.; ; This series only includes estimates that to the best of our knowledge are reasonably comparable over time for a country. Due to differences in estimation methodologies and poverty lines, estimates should not be compared across countries.

Poverty in a Rising Africa, the first of two upcoming reports on poverty in Africa, documents the data challenges facing the region and reviews the status of Africa’s poverty and inequality, both monetary and nonmonetary, taking these data challenges into account.

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.

In 2022, the international poverty (based on 2017 purchasing power parity (PPP)) and the lower-income poverty rate (3.65 U.S. dollars in 2017 PPP), was highest in Burundi within the East African region, with 83 percent and 96.6 percent, respectively. However, the upper middle-income poverty rate was highest in Somalia, at 98.8 percent.

The purpose of this dataset is to provide village-level wealth estimates for places where up-to-date information about geographic wealth distribution is needed. This dataset contains information on buildings, roads, points of interest (POIs), night-time luminosity, population density, and estimated wealth index for 1-mi² inhabited places identified by the underlying datasets. The wealth level is an estimated value of the International Wealth Index which is a comparable asset based wealth index covering the complete developing world.

The West Africa Coastal Vulnerability Mapping: Gridded Subset of Sub-national Poverty and Extreme Poverty Prevalence represents the HarvestChoice Subnational Poverty and Extreme Poverty Prevalence data set as a one kilometer raster, and includes values within 200 kilometers of the coast. Poverty levels affect the "defenselessness" of populations in the low elevation coastal zone. These data were developed by the Harvest Choice project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Harvest Choice measured 2005 poverty levels using 2005 purchasing power parity data for two thresholds: $1.25/day and $2/day international poverty lines. The $2/day threshold was selected for this mapping exercise.

As of 2024, around **** million people in South Africa are living in extreme poverty, with the poverty threshold at **** U.S. dollars daily. This means that ******* more people were pushed into poverty compared to 2023. Moreover, the headcount was forecast to increase in the coming years. By 2030, over **** million South Africans will live on a maximum of **** U.S. dollars per day. Who is considered poor domestically? Poverty is measured using several matrices. For example, local authorities tend to rely on the national poverty line, assessed based on consumer price indices (CPI) of a basket of goods of food and non-food components. In 2023, the domestic poverty line in South Africa stood at ***** South African rand per month (around ***** U.S. dollars per month). According to a survey, social inequality and poverty worried a significant share of the South African respondents. As of September 2024, some ** percent of the respondents reported that they were worried about the state of poverty and unequal income distribution in the country.   Eastern Cape residents received more grants South Africa’s labor market has struggled to absorb the country’s population. In 2023, almost a third of the economically active population was unemployed. Local authorities employ relief assistance and social grants in an attempt to reduce poverty and assist poor individuals. In 2023, almost ** percent of South African households received state support, with the majority share benefiting in the Eastern Cape.

license: apache-2.0 tags: - africa - sustainable-development-goals - world-health-organization - development

  Population below international poverty line (%)





  Dataset Description

This dataset provides country-level data for the indicator "1.1.1 Population below international poverty line (%)" across African nations, sourced from the World Health Organization's (WHO) data portal on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The data is presented in a wide format… See the full description on the dataset page: https://huggingface.co/datasets/electricsheepafrica/population-below-international-poverty-line-for-african-countries.

Historical dataset showing Central African Republic poverty rate by year from 1992 to 2021.

license: apache-2.0 tags: - africa - sustainable-development-goals - world-health-organization - development

  Employed population below international poverty line (%) - Male





  Dataset Description

This dataset provides country-level data for the indicator "1.1.1 Employed population below international poverty line (%) - Male" across African nations, sourced from the World Health Organization's (WHO) data portal on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The data is… See the full description on the dataset page: https://huggingface.co/datasets/electricsheepafrica/employed-population-below-international-poverty-line-male-for-african-countries.

South Africa ZA: Income Share Held by Third 20% data was reported at 8.200 % in 2014. This records an increase from the previous number of 8.000 % for 2010. South Africa ZA: Income Share Held by Third 20% data is updated yearly, averaging 8.200 % from Dec 1993 (Median) to 2014, with 7 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9.900 % in 2000 and a record low of 7.500 % in 2005. South Africa ZA: Income Share Held by Third 20% data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Africa – Table ZA.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. Percentage share of income or consumption is the share that accrues to subgroups of population indicated by deciles or quintiles. Percentage shares by quintile may not sum to 100 because of rounding.; ; World Bank, Development Research Group. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/index.htm).; ; The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than one thousand six hundred household surveys across 164 countries in six regions and 25 other high income countries (industrialized economies). While income distribution data are published for all countries with data available, poverty data are published for low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia) only. See PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/WhatIsNew.aspx) for definitions of geographical regions and industrialized countries.

DATASET: Alpha version 2008 estimates of proportion of people per grid square living in poverty, as defined by the Multidimensional Poverty Index (http://www.ophi.org.uk/policy/multidimensional-poverty-index/), and associated uncertainty metrics. REGION: Africa SPATIAL RESOLUTION: 0.00833333 decimal degrees (approx 1km at the equator) PROJECTION: Geographic, WGS84 UNITS: Proportion of residents living in MPI-defined poverty (poverty dataset); 95% credible interval (uncertainty dataset) MAPPING APPROACH: Bayesian model-based geostatistics in combination with high resolution gridded spatial covariates applied to GPS-located household survey data on poverty from the DHS and/or LSMS programs. FORMAT: Geotiff (zipped using 7-zip (open access tool): www.7-zip.org) FILENAMES: Examples - ken08povmpi.tif = Kenya (ken) MPI poverty map for 2008. ken08povmpi-uncert.tif = uncertainty dataset showing 95% credible intervals. DATE OF PRODUCTION: January 2013 CITATION: Tatem AJ, Gething PW, Bhatt S, Weiss D and Pezzulo C (2013) Pilot high resolution poverty maps, University of Southampton/Oxford.

South Africa ZA: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $3.20 a Day: 2011 PPP: % of Population data was reported at 37.600 % in 2014. This records an increase from the previous number of 35.800 % for 2010. South Africa ZA: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $3.20 a Day: 2011 PPP: % of Population data is updated yearly, averaging 47.800 % from Dec 1993 (Median) to 2014, with 7 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 53.900 % in 1996 and a record low of 35.800 % in 2010. South Africa ZA: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $3.20 a Day: 2011 PPP: % of Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s South Africa – Table ZA.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. Poverty headcount ratio at $3.20 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $3.20 a day at 2011 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier editions.; ; World Bank, Development Research Group. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/index.htm).; ; The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than one thousand six hundred household surveys across 164 countries in six regions and 25 other high income countries (industrialized economies). While income distribution data are published for all countries with data available, poverty data are published for low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia) only. The aggregated numbers for low- and middle-income countries correspond to the totals of 6 regions in PovcalNet, which include low- and middle-income countries and countries eligible to receive loans from the World Bank (such as Chile) and recently graduated countries (such as Estonia). See PovcalNet (http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/WhatIsNew.aspx) for definitions of geographical regions and industrialized countries.

The West Africa Coastal Vulnerability Mapping: Gridded Subset of Sub-national Poverty and Extreme Poverty Prevalence represents the HarvestChoice Subnational Poverty and Extreme Poverty Prevalence data set as a one kilometer raster, and includes values within 200 kilometers of the coast. Poverty levels affect the "defenselessness" of populations in the low elevation coastal zone. These data were developed by the Harvest Choice project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Harvest Choice measured 2005 poverty levels using 2005 purchasing power parity data for two thresholds: $1.25/day and $2/day international poverty lines. The $2/day threshold was selected for this mapping exercise.

The average for 2021 based on 71 countries was 5.3 percent. The highest value was in the Central African Republic: 65.7 percent and the lowest value was in Belgium: 0 percent. The indicator is available from 1963 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.