Home Poverty Extreme Poverty

Extreme Poverty

Living below $3.00 per day (2021 PPP): Definition, measurement methodology, and who the 839 million extreme poor are.

839M People in Extreme Poverty
$3.00 International Poverty Line
10.1% Share of World Population
Understanding Extreme Poverty

What Does
$3 a Day Mean?

The International Poverty Line

The $3.00/day threshold (2021 PPP) reflects the average national poverty lines of low-income countries. It was updated from $2.15 in June 2025 to better capture the reality of deprivation in the poorest countries.

Geographic Concentration

67% of the extreme poor live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Just 10 countries account for over 60% of global extreme poverty, with Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, and India having the largest populations in extreme poverty.

Who Are the Extreme Poor?

The extreme poor are disproportionately rural (80%), young (half are children), and work in agriculture. They face multiple deprivations: hunger, lack of clean water, inadequate shelter, and no access to basic healthcare or education.

Purchasing Power Parity

The poverty line uses PPP to compare living standards across countries. $3/day in Uganda should buy the same basket of goods as $3/day in Bangladesh—accounting for local price differences, not exchange rates.

Measurement & Trends

How Extreme Poverty
Is Measured

Methodology

From $2.15 to $3.00: Why the Line Changed

Breakdown of the June 2025 poverty line update

Updated Feb 2026
Show data table
From $2.15 to $3.00: Why the Line Changed
Poverty line ($/day)
Old Line (2017 PPP)2.15
PPP Update (+$0.35)2.5
National Lines Revision (+$0.50)3
New Line (2021 PPP)3
Source: World Bank (June 2025 Update)

Key Insight: The increase from $2.15 to $3.00 has two components: (1) Updated 2021 PPP data accounts for $0.35 of the increase, (2) Revised national poverty lines from low-income countries (reflecting improved survey methodology) account for the remaining $0.50 increase. This means 125 million more people are now counted as living in extreme poverty compared to the old definition.

Geographic Distribution

Top 10 Countries by Extreme Poor

Millions of people (2024)

Feb 2026
Show data table
Top 10 Countries by Extreme Poor
Millions in extreme poverty
Nigeria96
DRC68
India62
Ethiopia48
Madagascar34
Tanzania32
Mozambique28
Bangladesh26
Niger24
Uganda22
Source: World Bank PIP (2025)
Global Comparison

Population Below Each Poverty Line

% of world population (2025)

Feb 2026
Show data table
Population Below Each Poverty Line
% of world population
$3.00 (Extreme)10.1
$3.65 (LMIC)24
$6.85 (UMIC)47
$30.00 (High Income)81
Source: World Bank (2025)
Demographics

Who Are the Extreme Poor?

Demographic characteristics of people living below $3/day

Updated Feb 2026
Show data table
Who Are the Extreme Poor?
LocationAgeSector
Rural Areas: 80%8000
Urban Areas: 20%2000
–000
Children (0-17): 50%0500
Adults (18-64): 45%0450
Elderly (65+): 5%050
–000
Agriculture: 65%0065
Services: 25%0025
Industry: 10%0010
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform

Key Insight: 80% of the extreme poor live in rural areas, 50% are children under 18, and 65% work in agriculture. This profile highlights that poverty eradication requires rural development, agricultural productivity improvements, and investments in children's education and health.

Technical Details

Measurement
Process

The World Bank measures extreme poverty using household surveys that capture consumption or income data. Here's how it works:

  • Step 1 - National Surveys: Countries conduct household surveys asking about consumption, income, and expenditures (food, housing, healthcare, etc.)
  • Step 2 - PPP Conversion: The international poverty line ($3.00 in 2021 PPP) is converted to local currency using Purchasing Power Parity rates
  • Step 3 - Price Adjustment: The local currency threshold is adjusted to the survey year's prices using the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
  • Step 4 - Poverty Count: Households with consumption/income below the threshold are counted as extreme poor
  • Step 5 - Aggregation: Country-level data is aggregated to produce regional and global poverty estimates

Data Limitations: Not all countries conduct surveys regularly. The most recent data for some countries may be several years old, requiring statistical projections.

World Bank PIP Poverty & Inequality Platform
ICP 2021 PPP data (2024 release)
Low-Income Countries National poverty line data
Household Surveys LSMS, DHS, and national surveys
Beyond the Line

Other Poverty
Thresholds

The World Bank uses multiple poverty lines to capture different levels of deprivation across country income groups.

Lower Middle-Income Line: $3.65/day

This threshold represents the median national poverty lines of lower middle-income countries. About 24% of the world lives below this line.

Upper Middle-Income Line: $6.85/day

Based on upper middle-income country standards. About 47% of the global population lives below this threshold, showing persistent moderate poverty.

Poverty Gap Index

Measures the intensity of poverty—how far below the poverty line people live on average. A higher gap means the poor are further from escaping poverty.

Societal Poverty Line: $30/day

A threshold reflecting minimum living standards in high-income countries. About 81% of the world lives below this level, highlighting how much of the global picture sits in the gap between absolute poverty and rich-country norms — see income inequality for the distributional view.

Related Topics

Explore More

Global Poverty Overview

Return to the main poverty page for all statistics, charts, and regional breakdowns.

→

Regional Trends

Compare extreme poverty rates across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and other regions.

→

Multidimensional Poverty

Beyond income: explore deprivations in health, education, and living standards.

→
More in Poverty View all →
Cash Transfer Programmes Cash transfer programmes — conditional and unconditional — across countries. Child Labour 138 million children remain in child labour in 2024, with 54 million in hazardous work. Child Poverty Child poverty statistics: 417 million children in severe deprivation. Climate Change & Poverty Nexus Explore how climate change affects poverty. Interactive charts on climate hazards, disaster losses, and… Food Insecurity Food insecurity globally — distinct from but related to hunger. Global Inequality How global inequality has evolved: the elephant curve, between-country vs within-country decomposition, and the… Homelessness Reported homelessness rates across OECD countries and the global scale of housing need. Housing Poverty and Homelessness Housing poverty globally — slums and informal settlements (1.1 billion residents), homelessness in advanced… Human Development Index UN HDI 2023: top and bottom countries, regional trends since 1990, the COVID setback and inequality losses Microfinance Microfinance globally — Grameen Bank, Banco Sol, M-Pesa. The Yunus Nobel and the subsequent RCT evidence that has… Multidimensional Poverty Index Explore multidimensional poverty through the UNDP Global MPI. Poverty and Education How poverty and education interact across generations. Educational attainment by family background, the heavy-tail… Poverty by Age Poverty rates differ by life stage. Children face higher poverty rates in most countries. Poverty Reduction Strategies Evidence-based poverty reduction strategies that work. Interactive charts on cash transfers, social protection… Regional Poverty Trends Explore regional poverty trends across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, Latin America, East Asia, and MENA. No Poverty SDG Goal 1: No Poverty - Track progress on ending poverty in all forms everywhere by 2030. Slums & Informal Settlements About 1.1 billion people, a quarter of all urban residents, live in slums and informal settlements. Social Safety Nets Social protection coverage globally — who is covered, who is left out, and what the World Bank ASPIRE database… Time Poverty Time poverty as a poverty dimension: how women, the working poor, and primary caregivers can be income-non-poor… Urban vs Rural Poverty Rural poverty exceeds urban poverty in most countries. The urban-rural gap, urbanization effects, and the… Wealth Mobility Intergenerational income mobility across countries. The Great Gatsby curve, the wealth elasticity of parents and… Women and Poverty How poverty falls disproportionately on women: lifetime earnings, single-parent households, unpaid care work… Working Conditions of the Poor Working conditions facing workers in poverty. Occupational hazards, lack of protection, informal-sector… The Working Poor Workers living below the poverty line despite employment. Global numbers, regional variation, and why the 'jobs… Youth Poverty Poverty among adolescents and young adults globally. Disproportionate poverty rates among the young, and the…