• In 2024, 10.1% of the world population — about 824 million people — lived in extreme poverty, on less than $3.00 a day (WB)
• In 2024, roughly 18% of the world population lived on less than $4.20 a day, down from 57% in 1981 (WB)
• Global extreme poverty is projected to fall only marginally, from 10.1% in 2024 to 9.8% in 2026 (WB)
• In 1990, 2.31 billion people lived in extreme poverty; by 2024 that had fallen to 824 million, despite world population growing by more than 2.5 billion over the same period (Our World in Data)
• Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for around 71% of the world’s extreme poor, with 45% of the region’s population living on less than $3.00 a day in 2024 (WB)
• In 2024, an estimated 412 million children aged 17 or younger lived in households surviving on less than $3.00 a day — one in five children worldwide (WB)
• An estimated 645 million people (7.8% of the world population) faced hunger in 2025, the third consecutive annual decline — but Africa’s total rose to 309 million (FAO, SOFI 2026)
• About 2.1 billion people — 25.8% of the global population — were moderately or severely food insecure in 2025, and 2.69 billion could not afford a healthy diet (FAO)
• The richest 1% own 43.8% of the world’s wealth, while the poorest half of humanity holds just 0.52% (Oxfam, 2026)
• The 12 richest billionaires, with combined wealth of $2.6 trillion, own more than the poorest half of humanity — some 4.1 billion people (Oxfam, 2026)
• The main causes of poverty are living in rural areas, working in agriculture, and living in a fragile or conflict-affected country — poverty in fragile and conflict-affected situations is five times higher than elsewhere (WB)
• In June 2025, the World Bank raised the extreme poverty line from $1.90 (2011 PPP) via $2.15 (2017 PPP) to $3.00 a day in 2021 PPP terms. The line represents the median national poverty line of 23 low-income countries. Because the threshold moved, figures based on the older lines are not directly comparable with current ones (WB)

Extreme global poverty, defined as an income of less than $3.00 a day, has fallen from around 47% of the global population in 1981 to 10.1% in 2024.

Even with a higher poverty line of $4.20 a day, there was a sharp fall from the late 1990s to 2024 — from around 52% to roughly 18%.

However, the fall has been concentrated in Asia and Latin America.

This shows that poverty was the norm – for more than 90% of the population. In 1820, researchers estimate that 94% of the world population was living under our terms of absolute poverty (less than $2 a day)

Absolute poverty levels have fallen considerably since 1820 – with a sharp fall in the post-war period.

Note: this series uses the pre-2025 $1.90 a day poverty line and is not directly comparable with the current $3.00 figures above.

Source: OurWorldinData

Source: OurWorldinData

Cambodia and Bangladesh have similar low-income levels to Rwanda and Benin, but Bangladesh reports dissatisfaction of 18% compared to over 70% in Benin. This shows many other factors affect living standards apart from reported income levels.

In 2024, 824 million people lived on less than $3.00 a day, down from 2.31 billion in 1990.

This measures the share of the population living with income levels below the poverty line.

Source: OurWorldinData

Note: this chart uses the pre-2025 $1.90 a day poverty line.

Oxfam’s January 2026 report found the 12 richest billionaires own more wealth than the poorest half of humanity, some 4.1 billion people (link)

Related

• Measures of global poverty
• Policies to reduce poverty
• Reasons for global inequality