Nearly 700M people worldwide live in extreme poverty – World Bank

AZERTAC, Philippine News Agency

According to a UN report, global extreme poverty had been declining rapidly from 1990 to 2019. (Pexels photo)

BAKU – Nearly 700 million people around the world are classified as living in extreme poverty, surviving on less than USD2.15 per day per person.

The UN declared Oct. 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty in a resolution adopted on Dec. 22, 1992.

According to a UN report, global extreme poverty had been declining rapidly from 1990 to 2019.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the crises that followed triggered the largest global surge in poverty seen in decades.

Since 2019, almost no progress has been made toward eradicating poverty.

Nearly half of the world’s population — especially in regions such as South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa — lives below the economic welfare levels that would be considered poverty in many upper-middle-income countries.

Globally, around 1 billion people live on incomes between USD2.15 and USD3.65 per day, while nearly half of the world’s population survives on less than USD6.85 per day.

The World Bank’s 2024 Global Poverty Report estimates that about 8.5 percent of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty — meaning roughly 700 million people survive on less than USD2.15 per day per person.

Those living on less than this threshold are classified as extremely poor.

Meanwhile, approximately 3.5 billion people — about half of the global population — live on less than USD6.85 a day, a level that would be considered poverty in middle-income countries.

Despite these challenges, East Asia, the Pacific, and South Asia stand out as the regions that have made the most progress in poverty reduction over the past 25 years.

Looking ahead, projections suggest that by 2030, about 7.3 percent of the global population will still be living in extreme poverty, with only 69 million people expected to rise above that threshold.

According to the online media platform Visual Capitalist, citing data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s World Economic Outlook report published in April 2025, most of the world’s poorest countries — measured by per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — are located in Sub-Saharan Africa.

South Sudan ranks as the poorest country in the world, with a per capita GDP of USD251.