Global Extreme Poverty: People Living Below USD 3.00 a Day

More than 824 million people, about one in ten worldwide, lived in extreme poverty in 2024 [1]. The World Bank published these estimates in September 2026 on its Poverty and Inequality Platform, with data through 2024 and nowcasts for 2025 and 2026 [1].

Extreme poverty means living on less than USD 3.00 per person per day in 2021 purchasing power parity (PPP) terms [1]. The global rate is projected to decline only marginally, from 10.1% in 2024 to 9.8% in 2026 [1].

In June 2025 the World Bank raised the international poverty line from USD 2.15 (2017 PPP) to USD 3.00 (2021 PPP), using updated price data and national poverty lines from over 160 countries [4]. The new PPPs, the new line and new survey data together raised the estimate of extreme poverty by about 125 million people in 2022 [2].

The revision was not uniform. South Asia had about 45 million fewer people in extreme poverty, while Sub-Saharan Africa had an additional 111 million [2]. Every other region was also revised upward [2].

Extreme poverty rates are below 5% in all regions except two: the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan region, and Sub-Saharan Africa [1]. Poverty is rising in the first and remains high in the second [1]. The UN SDG Report 2025 notes that by 2025 more than three-quarters of the global extreme poor live in Sub-Saharan Africa or in fragile and conflict-affected countries [4].

The World Bank also tracks higher lines for middle-income economies. Almost one in five people live on less than USD 4.20 a day, the line for lower-middle-income economies [3]. Nearly half the global population lives on less than USD 8.30 a day, the line for upper-middle-income economies [3].

Compared with the March 2026 data vintage, the September 2026 update revised global poverty down by 0.3 percentage points, or 22.5 million people, from about 10.4% (846.8 million) to 10.1% (824.3 million) [1]. The main driver was a lower poverty rate in South Asia after a new survey replaced earlier extrapolation [1].

With the June 2025 data, the World Bank projected that 9% of the world would still live in extreme poverty by 2030 [2]. That leaves the SDG target of eradicating extreme poverty, and the World Bank goal of 3% or less by 2030, out of reach [2].

Headline figures come from the World Bank September 2026 Poverty and Inequality Platform update [1]. Details of the June 2025 poverty line change come from the World Bank factsheet [2] and the UN SDG Report 2025 [4]. Higher poverty line shares come from the World Bank measuring poverty page [3].

All lines are per person per day in 2021 PPP dollars. The 2024 estimate is the latest year with sufficient survey coverage; 2025 and 2026 are nowcasts and 2030 is a projection. Figures from different data vintages are not directly comparable.