Over the past 30 years, there has been an almost constant reduction in the poverty rate worldwide. Whereas nearly ** percent of the world's population lived on less than 2.15 U.S. dollars in terms of 2017 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) in 1990, this had fallen to *** percent in 2022. This is even though the world's population was growing over the same period. However, there was a small increase in the poverty rate during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, when thousands of people became unemployed overnight. Moreover, the rising cost of living in the aftermath of the pandemic and spurred by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 meant that many people were struggling to make ends meet. Poverty is a regional problem Poverty can be measured in relative and absolute terms. Absolute poverty concerns basic human needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and clean drinking water, whereas relative poverty looks at whether people in different countries can afford a certain living standard. Most countries that have a high percentage of their population living in absolute poverty, meaning that they are poor compared to international standards, are regionally concentrated. African countries are most represented among the countries in which poverty prevails the most. In terms of numbers, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the most people living in poverty worldwide. Inequality on the rise How wealth, or the lack thereof, is distributed within the global population and even within countries is very unequal. In 2022, the richest one percent of the world owned almost half of the global wealth, while the poorest 50 percent owned less than two percent in the same year. Within regions, Latin America had the most unequal distribution of wealth, but this phenomenon is present in all world regions.

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.

Whereas less than *** percent of the population in high income countries in the world lived on less than **** U.S. dollars a day in 2018 in terms of 2017 purchasing power parities, ** percent of the population in low income countries did the same. On a more positive note, the poverty rate in low income countries fell by ** percentage points from 1994 to 2018. In 2025, the share is estimated to be around *** for high income countries.

The share of the global population with access to electricity in 2022 was roughly 91 percent, up from 71.4 percent in 1990. South Sudan was the least electrified country worldwide, followed by Burundi.

This dataset contains data from the World Development Indicators on Poverty and Shared Prosperity presenting indicators that measure progress toward the World Bank Group’s twin goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and promoting shared prosperity in every country in a sustainable manner.

Will all children be able to read by 2030? The ability to read with comprehension is a foundational skill that every education system around the world strives to impart by late in primary school—generally by age 10. Moreover, attaining the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education requires first achieving this basic building block, and so does improving countries’ Human Capital Index scores. Yet past evidence from many low- and middle-income countries has shown that many children are not learning to read with comprehension in primary school. To understand the global picture better, we have worked with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) to assemble a new dataset with the most comprehensive measures of this foundational skill yet developed, by linking together data from credible cross-national and national assessments of reading. This dataset covers 115 countries, accounting for 81% of children worldwide and 79% of children in low- and middle-income countries. The new data allow us to estimate the reading proficiency of late-primary-age children, and we also provide what are among the first estimates (and the most comprehensive, for low- and middle-income countries) of the historical rate of progress in improving reading proficiency globally (for the 2000-17 period). The results show that 53% of all children in low- and middle-income countries cannot read age-appropriate material by age 10, and that at current rates of improvement, this “learning poverty” rate will have fallen only to 43% by 2030. Indeed, we find that the goal of all children reading by 2030 will be attainable only with historically unprecedented progress. The high rate of “learning poverty” and slow progress in low- and middle-income countries is an early warning that all the ambitious SDG targets in education (and likely of social progress) are at risk. Based on this evidence, we suggest a new medium-term target to guide the World Bank’s work in low- and middle- income countries: cut learning poverty by at least half by 2030. This target, together with improved measurement of learning, can be as an evidence-based tool to accelerate progress to get all children reading by age 10.

For further details, please refer to https://thedocs.worldbank.org/en/doc/e52f55322528903b27f1b7e61238e416-0200022022/original/Learning-poverty-report-2022-06-21-final-V7-0-conferenceEdition.pdf

According to a 2020 survey, the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis will increase female poverty worldwide. Globally, *** million women aged 15 years and older will be living on less than 1.90 U.S. dollars per day in 2021, compared to *** million men. The gender poverty gap is expected to increase by 2030, as women will still be the majority of the world's extreme poor.

This dashboard is part of SDGs Today. Please see sdgstoday.orgExtreme poverty poses a major challenge to the livelihood of current and future generations everywhere and threatens Agenda 2030’s promise of leaving no one behind. The World Poverty Clock developed by the World Data Lab provides real-time poverty estimates through 2030 for nearly all countries. The World Poverty Clock uses publicly available data on income distributions, production factors, and household consumption provided by various international organizations, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These organizations compile data provided to them by the local governments, and when this information is not available, the World Poverty Clock uses specific models to estimate poverty in these countries. The models include how individual incomes might change over time using IMF growth forecasts for the medium-term complemented by long-term “shared socio-economic pathways” developed by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and similar analysis developed by the OECD. The World Poverty Clock dataset was updated in February 2021, taking into consideration the COVID-19 pandemic effects on the economy.

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 different measures of inequality. 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

This data package contains data on World Development Indicators on Population and Economy, Poverty and Shared Prosperity, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets and Global links.

Poverty Headcount Ratio at Societal Poverty Lines: % of Population data was reported at 19.000 % in 2021. This records a decrease from the previous number of 20.900 % for 2020. Poverty Headcount Ratio at Societal Poverty Lines: % of Population data is updated yearly, averaging 31.700 % from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2021, with 19 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 72.000 % in 1990 and a record low of 19.000 % in 2021. Poverty Headcount Ratio at Societal Poverty Lines: % of Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s China – Table CN.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. The poverty headcount ratio at societal poverty line is the percentage of a population living in poverty according to the World Bank's Societal Poverty Line. The Societal Poverty Line is expressed in purchasing power adjusted 2017 U.S. dollars and defined as max($2.15, $1.15 + 0.5*Median). This means that when the national median is sufficiently low, the Societal Poverty line is equivalent to the extreme poverty line, $2.15. For countries with a sufficiently high national median, the Societal Poverty Line grows as countries’ median income grows.;World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are mostly from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see http://pip.worldbank.org.;;The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than 2000 household surveys across 169 countries. See the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) for details (www.pip.worldbank.org).

In 2023, the number of people living on less than 2.15 U.S. dollars a day worldwide stood at 10.2 percent. Between 1981 and 2023, the figure dropped by 37.2 percentage points, though the decline followed an uneven course rather than a steady trajectory.

Poverty rate at national poverty line of Burkina Faso went up by 4.35% from 41.4 % in 2018 to 43.2 % in 2021. Since the 4.35% improve in 2021, poverty rate at national poverty line remained constant by 0.00% in 2021. National poverty rate is the percentage of the population living below the national poverty line. National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys.

Using a poverty metric of 2.15 U.S. dollars per day, 37 percent of the women in Sub-Saharan Africa were living in extreme poverty in 2023. This is expected to fall to one third by 2023. On the other hand, less than one percent of the population in Europe and North America as well as Australia and New Zealand were living in extreme poverty. Nevertheless, there are also many people in these regions struggling to make ends meet.

Poverty rate at national poverty line of Argentina leapt by 6.38% from 39.2 % in 2022 to 41.7 % in 2023. Since the 11.19% drop in 2021, poverty rate at national poverty line jumped by 11.80% in 2023. National poverty rate is the percentage of the population living below the national poverty line. National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys.

Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of population) in Vietnam was reported at 4.3 % in 2022, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Vietnam - Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty line (% of population) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on October of 2025.

Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of population) in Nigeria was reported at 40.1 % in 2018, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Nigeria - Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty line (% of population) - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on October of 2025.

Qatar Poverty Headcount Ratio at Societal Poverty Lines: % of Population data was reported at 17.500 % in 2017. Qatar Poverty Headcount Ratio at Societal Poverty Lines: % of Population data is updated yearly, averaging 17.500 % from Dec 2017 (Median) to 2017, with 1 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 17.500 % in 2017 and a record low of 17.500 % in 2017. Qatar Poverty Headcount Ratio at Societal Poverty Lines: % of Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Qatar – Table QA.World Bank.WDI: Social: Poverty and Inequality. The poverty headcount ratio at societal poverty line is the percentage of a population living in poverty according to the World Bank's Societal Poverty Line. The Societal Poverty Line is expressed in purchasing power adjusted 2017 U.S. dollars and defined as max($2.15, $1.15 + 0.5*Median). This means that when the national median is sufficiently low, the Societal Poverty line is equivalent to the extreme poverty line, $2.15. For countries with a sufficiently high national median, the Societal Poverty Line grows as countries’ median income grows.;World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are mostly from the Luxembourg Income Study database. For more information and methodology, please see http://pip.worldbank.org.;;The World Bank’s internationally comparable poverty monitoring database now draws on income or detailed consumption data from more than 2000 household surveys across 169 countries. See the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) for details (www.pip.worldbank.org).

Poverty rate at national poverty line of Germany slumped by 7.50% from 16.0 % in 2020 to 14.8 % in 2021. Since the 0.62% downward trend in 2020, poverty rate at national poverty line dropped by 7.50% in 2021. National poverty rate is the percentage of the population living below the national poverty line. National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys.

Poverty rate at national poverty line of Morocco plummeted by 18.75% from 4.8 % in 2013 to 3.9 % in 2022. Since the 41.83% drop in 2007, poverty rate at national poverty line sank by 56.18% in 2022. National poverty rate is the percentage of the population living below the national poverty line. National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys.