Out of all OECD countries, Cost Rica had the highest poverty rate as of 2022, at over 20 percent. The country with the second highest poverty rate was the United States, with 18 percent. On the other end of the scale, Czechia had the lowest poverty rate at 6.4 percent, followed by Denmark.

The significance of the OECD

The OECD, or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, was founded in 1948 and is made up of 38 member countries. It seeks to improve the economic and social well-being of countries and their populations. The OECD looks at issues that impact people’s everyday lives and proposes policies that can help to improve the quality of life.

Poverty in the United States

In 2022, there were nearly 38 million people living below the poverty line in the U.S.. About one fourth of the Native American population lived in poverty in 2022, the most out of any ethnicity. In addition, the rate was higher among young women than young men. It is clear that poverty in the United States is a complex, multi-faceted issue that affects millions of people and is even more complex to solve.

The average for 2020 based on 54 countries was 19.31 percent. The highest value was in the Gambia: 53.4 percent and the lowest value was in China: 0 percent. The indicator is available from 2000 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Among the OECD countries, Costa Rica had the highest share of children living in poverty, reaching **** percent in 2022. Türkiye followed with a share of ***percent of children living in poverty, while **** percent of children in Spain, Chile, and the United States did the same. On the other hand, only ***** percent of children in Finland were living in poverty.

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.

All the 20 countries with the highest poverty rates in the world are located in Africa. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique were the two countries with the highest share of people living on less than 2.15 U.S. dollars a day when adjusting for 2017 Purchasing Power Parities (PPP), both at over ** percent.

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.

The average for 2021 based on 71 countries was 25.11 percent. The highest value was in Niger: 96.3 percent and the lowest value was in Cyprus: 0.1 percent. The indicator is available from 1963 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The average for 2020 based on 10 countries was 30.53 percent. The highest value was in Mexico: 43.9 percent and the lowest value was in Chile: 10.8 percent. The indicator is available from 2000 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

All the ** countries with the highest poverty gaps worldwide at **** U.S. dollars a day in 2017 Purchasing Power Parities were located in Africa. Democratic Republic of Congo had the most severe poverty levels at ** percent. Moreover, most of the countries with the highest poverty gaps are also the countries with the highest poverty rates in the world. Whereas the poverty rate only measures the share of the population living below the poverty line, the poverty gap measures the severity of the poverty.

Global poverty statistics and rates by country

The database (version August 2022) is built upon the released Global Subnational Atlas of Poverty (GSAP) (World Bank, 2021). In this database, we assemble a new panel dataset that provides (headcount) poverty rates using the daily poverty lines of US $1.90, $3.20, and $5.50 (based on the revised 2011 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) dollars). This database is generated using household income and consumption surveys from the World Bank’s Global Monitoring Database (GMD), which underlie country official poverty statistics, and offers the most detailed subnational poverty data on a global scale to date. The Global Subnational Atlas of Poverty (GSAP) is produced by the World Bank’s Poverty and Equity Global Practice, coordinated by the Data for Goals (D4G) team, and supported by the six regional statistics teams in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice, and Global Poverty & Inequality Data Team (GPID) in Development Economics Data Group (DECDG) at the World Bank. The Global Monitoring Database (GMD) is the World Bank’s repository of multitopic income and expenditure household surveys used to monitor global poverty and shared prosperity. The household survey data are typically collected by national statistical offices in each country, and then compiled, processed, and harmonized. The process is coordinated by the Data for Goals (D4G) team and supported by the six regional statistics teams in the Poverty and Equity Global Practice. Global Poverty & Inequality Data Team (GPID) in Development Economics Data Group (DECDG) also contributed historical data from before 1990, and recent survey data from Luxemburg Income Studies (LIS). Selected variables have been harmonized to the extent possible such that levels and trends in poverty and other key sociodemographic attributes can be reasonably compared across and within countries over time. The GMD’s harmonized microdata are currently used in Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP), World Bank’s Multidimensional Poverty Measures (WB MPM), the Global Database of Shared Prosperity (GDSP), and Poverty and Shared Prosperity Reports. Reference: World Bank. (2021). World Bank estimates based on data from the Global Subnational Atlas of Poverty, Global Monitoring Database. World Bank: Washington. https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0042041

In 2023, all selected Latin American countries registered a higher poverty rate for women than for men. Colombia ranked among the highest poverty rates both for males and females only behind Honduras.

Graph and download economic data for Estimated Percent of People of All Ages in Poverty for United States (PPAAUS00000A156NCEN) from 1989 to 2023 about child, poverty, percent, and USA.

The Poverty Mapping Project: Global Subnational Infant Mortality Rates data set consists of estimates of infant mortality rates for the year 2000. The infant mortality rate for a region or country is defined as the number of children who die before their first birthday for every 1,000 live births. The data products include a shapefile (vector data) of rates, grids (raster data) of rates (per 10,000 live births in order to preserve precision in integer format), births (the rate denominator) and deaths (the rate numerator), and a tabular data set of the same and associated data. Over 10,000 national and subnational Units are represented in the tabular and grid data sets, while the shapefile uses approximately 1,000 Units in order to protect the intellectual property of source data sets for Brazil, China, and Mexico. This data set is produced by the Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN).

Global Poverty and Inequality Data

Source: Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg - Income Study https://www.lisdatacenter.org/

Data Dictionary:

gini - Gini Coefficient atk5 - Atkinson Coefficient (epsilon=0.5) atk1 - Atkinson Coefficient (epsilon=1) d9010 - Percentile Ratio (90/10) d9050 - Percentile Ratio (90/50) d8020 - Percentile Ratio (80/20) poorAll4 - Relative Poverty Rates - Total Population (40%) poorAll5 - Relative Poverty Rates - Total Population (50%) poorAll6 - Relative Poverty Rates - Total Population (60%) poorK4 - Relative Poverty Rates - Children (40%) poorK5 - Relative Poverty Rates - Children (50%) poorK6 - Relative Poverty Rates - Children (60%) poorE4 - Relative Poverty Rates - Elderly (40%) poorE5 - Relative Poverty Rates - Elderly (50%) poorE6 - Relative Poverty Rates - Elderly (60%) d5075 - Distribution of Children by Income Group (50-75%) d75150 - Distribution of Children by Income Group (75-150%) d150 - Distribution of Children by Income Group (above 150%) poortp - Children Poverty Rates - Two-Parent Families (50%) poorsm - Children Poverty Rates - Single-Mother Families (50%) pkidsm - % Children Living in Single-Mother Families eymed - Median Equivalized Income average - Mean Equivalized Income

The average for 2021 based on 5 countries was 3.76 percent. The highest value was in India: 12.9 percent and the lowest value was in Malaysia: 0 percent. The indicator is available from 1963 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Chad was the country with the highest prevalence of multidimensional poverty in the world based on surveys from 2018 to 2023. The African country was given an index score of *** on a scale from zero to one. Its neighbor Central African Republic, ranked second, followed by Burundi in third. A high number of the countries on the list are located in Africa.

Greece GR: Income Share Held by Highest 10% data was reported at 26.200 % in 2015. This records an increase from the previous number of 26.100 % for 2014. Greece GR: Income Share Held by Highest 10% data is updated yearly, averaging 26.000 % from Dec 2003 (Median) to 2015, with 13 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 26.700 % in 2006 and a record low of 24.600 % in 2003. Greece GR: Income Share Held by Highest 10% data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Greece – Table GR.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. Percentage share of income or consumption is the share that accrues to subgroups of population indicated by deciles or quintiles.; ; 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.

In 2024, Louisiana had the highest poverty rate among U.S. states at ** percent. It was followed by Mississippi and Alabama. The state with the lowest poverty rate was New Hampshire at *** percent. The overall poverty rate of the United States stood at around **** percent that year.

Context

This dataset was uploaded to support the Data Science For Good Kiva crowdfunding challenge. In particular, in uploading this dataset, I intend to assist with mapping subnational locations in the Kiva dataset to more accurate geocodes.

Content

This dataset contains poverty data at the administrative unit level 1, based on national poverty line(s). Administrative unit level 1 refers to the highest subnational unit level (examples include ‘state’, ‘governorate’, ‘province’). This dataset also provides data and methodology for distinguishing between poverty rates in urban and rural regions.

This dataset includes one main .csv file: Subnational-PovertyData.csv, which includes a set of poverty indicators at the national and subnational level between the years 1996-2013. Many countries are missing data for multiple years, and no country has data for the years 1997-1999.

It also includes three metadata .csv files: 1. Subnational-PovertyCountry.csv, which describes the country codes and subregions. 2.Subnational-PovertySeries.csv, which describes the three series indicators for national, urban, and rural poverty headcount ratios. This metadata file also including limitations, statistical methodologies, and development relevance for these metrics. 3. Subnational-Povertyfootnote.csv, which describes the years and sources for all of the country-series combinations.

Acknowledgements

This dataset is provided openly by the World Bank. Individual sources for the different data series are available in Subnational-Povertyfootnote.csv.

This dataset is classified as Public under the Access to Information Classification Policy. Users inside and outside the World Bank can access this dataset. It is licensed under CC-BY 4.0.

Metadata

Type: Time Series Topics: Economic Growth Poverty Economy Coverage: IBRD Languages Supported: English Number of Economies: 60 Geographical Coverage: World Access Options: Download, Query Tool Temporal Coverage: 1996 - 2013 Last Updated: April 27, 2015