Extreme poverty

Extreme poverty refers to the most severe form of deprivation, defined by the United Nations as a condition in which individuals lack fundamental human needs such as adequate food, safe drinking water, sanitation, health care, shelter, education, and access to essential information. Although income is an important component, the concept also incorporates access to basic services and opportunities, making extreme poverty a multidimensional social and economic condition.

Definitions and Measurement

The prevailing global standard for measuring extreme poverty is the international poverty line, set by the World Bank. As of the 2015 revision, this line stands at US$1.90 per day in 2011 purchasing power parity values, equivalent to roughly US$2.12 in 2018 prices. The poverty line is periodically adjusted to reflect updated price data and variations in the cost of basic necessities across countries.
Because many people in low-income environments do not earn a cash wage—particularly subsistence farmers—the measure is based on the value of consumption rather than income alone. Complementary indicators, such as the poverty gap index, measure how far below the poverty line individuals fall, capturing the depth of deprivation.
The international poverty line is an absolute rather than a relative measure. It is intended to remain stable over time to allow comparison across decades and across national contexts. While widely used, it has limits: it does not reflect subjective perceptions of poverty, it relies heavily on purchasing power parity estimates that can be difficult to calculate accurately, and it may undercount people in fragile or data-poor countries.

Alternative Measures

To address the multidimensional character of poverty, organisations such as the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative publish the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). The MPI assesses deprivations across several areas: nutrition, child mortality, schooling, housing, sanitation, water, electricity, and asset ownership. It captures both the incidence of poverty—how many people are poor—and its intensity—the extent of deprivation they experience.
The MPI can reveal substantial differences not visible in income-based measures. For example, while conventional metrics classify similar proportions of people in Ethiopia and Uzbekistan as living in extreme poverty, MPI calculations show much higher levels of multidimensional poverty in Ethiopia and significantly lower levels in Uzbekistan. Such results help officials identify the specific drivers of poverty within different regions, ranging from energy access to education or income.

Historical Trends

Extreme poverty has declined dramatically over the last two centuries. In 1800 more than 80 per cent of the world’s population lived in conditions that today would be considered extreme poverty. By 2015 the proportion had fallen to about 10 per cent, reflecting profound changes in global living standards.
The reduction accelerated in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. In 1990 approximately 1.9 billion people—around 43 per cent of the global population—lived below the international poverty line. By 2015 that figure had dropped to roughly 734 million people, less than 10 per cent of humanity. This decline represents more than one billion individuals moving above the extreme poverty threshold within fifteen years.
Notably, this progress was uneven across regions. Large reductions occurred in East and South Asia, driven by economic growth in countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Vietnam. Over the same period, however, the number of people living in extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa increased, rising from around 290 million in 1990 to over 400 million in 2010.
Despite the long-term positive trend, public perception often underestimates the scale of global progress. Surveys show that many people believe extreme poverty has risen rather than fallen, highlighting a gap between data and public understanding.

Global Distribution

Extreme poverty remains concentrated geographically. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa host the majority of those living below the international poverty line. As of 2018 Nigeria was estimated to have the largest number of people in extreme poverty, surpassing India after decades of demographic and economic change. More than 85 per cent of the world’s poorest people live in just twenty countries.
Patterns of consumption, access to services, and demographic factors such as population growth all shape the distribution and persistence of extreme poverty. Many of the poorest communities rely on subsistence agriculture, limited market access, and insufficient health infrastructure, conditions that contribute to chronic vulnerability.

United Nations Frameworks and International Goals

The effort to reduce extreme poverty has been central to global development agendas. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adopted in 2000, placed the reduction of extreme poverty and hunger at the forefront as MDG 1. The target—to halve the global extreme poverty rate by 2015 relative to 1990 levels—was achieved ahead of schedule.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), established in 2015, extend this commitment with SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere, setting the ambitious target of eliminating extreme poverty by 2030. This requires both income growth and improvements in access to basic services, governance, infrastructure, and social protection.
Earlier United Nations definitions of extreme poverty emphasised human rights perspectives. Reports by Leandro Despouy, Danilo Türk, and later guidelines adopted by the UN Human Rights Council stressed the need to address not only material deprivation but also obstacles preventing people from exercising their fundamental rights. This rights-based approach influenced current international principles on extreme poverty and human rights.

Current Trends and Prospects

According to recent World Bank estimates based on the US$1.90 line, approximately 710 million people remain in extreme poverty. Nearly half live in India and China, although China’s numbers continue to decline sharply. As progress slows in certain regions—particularly in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa—global poverty reduction has become increasingly dependent on developments in a small number of high-poverty countries.
Since the mid-1990s global poverty rates have fallen steadily, but achieving the goal of eliminating extreme poverty by 2030 presents significant challenges. Population growth in low-income regions, conflict, climate change, and economic instability have all emerged as barriers to further progress.