Here are some current data & trends on global poverty prevalence, followed by a few insights on what’s driving changes and what challenges lie ahead.
📊 Key Statistics
- Extreme Poverty (global poverty line / “surviving on very little”)
- The World Bank’s new international poverty line (2025) is US$ 3.00/day per person (2021 PPP) for defining extreme poverty.
- As of recent estimates, about 831 million people were living in extreme poverty globally.
- This corresponds to roughly 9-10% of the world’s population.
- Multidimensional / Acute Poverty
- According to a UNDP & OPHI report, around 1.1 billion people are living in acute multidimensional poverty, which includes deprivations in housing, sanitation, nutrition, education, etc.
- Children are disproportionately affected: of that 1.1 billion, more than half are children under 18.
- Regional Concentration
- Sub-Saharan Africa and conflict-affected or fragile countries carry a large burden of extreme poverty.
- Also significant numbers are in South Asia.
- Trends Over Time
- Since 1990, the number of people in extreme poverty dropped from around 2.3 billion to ≈831 million.
- However, the rate of poverty reduction has slowed in recent years, due to various shocks: COVID-19, climate change, conflicts.
- Revised estimates (due to updated purchasing power data) have slightly increased the count of people in extreme poverty, meaning some past figures were underestimates.
⚠ Drivers & Challenges
- Economic shocks: The COVID-19 pandemic has reversed or slowed progress in many places.
- Conflict and fragility: Countries with war or instability have much higher poverty rates, and people in these regions tend to suffer more deprivations (e.g. in basic needs).
- Climate change & natural disasters: These also hit low-income regions hardest, undermining agricultural output, displacing populations, and reducing resilience.
- Sluggish growth & debt burdens: For many low-income countries, growth has not been enough to lift large numbers of people out of poverty; high debt and fiscal constraints limit what governments can do.