List of countries by percentage of population living in poverty

This is a list of countries by percentage of population living in poverty, as recorded by the World Bank and Our World in Data.

Methodology
"Poverty" is defined as an economic condition by the lack of both money and basic necessities needed to live successfully, such as food, water, utilities, and housing. There are many working definitions of "poverty", with considerable debate on the most accurate definition of the term.

Lack of income security, economic stability and the predictability of one's continued means to meet basic needs all serve as absolute indicators of poverty. Poverty may therefore also be defined as the economic condition of lacking predictable and stable means of meeting basic life needs.

The first table lists countries by the percentage of their population with an income of less than $2.15 (the extreme poverty line), $3.65 and $6.85 US dollars a day in 2017 international (PPP) prices. The data is from the most recent year available from the World Bank API.

As differences in price levels across the world evolve, the global poverty line has to be periodically updated to reflect these changes. The World Bank updated the global poverty lines in September 2022. The decision follows the release in 2020 of new purchasing power parities (PPPs)—the main data used to convert different currencies into a common, comparable unit and account for price differences across countries. The new extreme poverty line of $2.15 per person per day, which replaces the $1.90 poverty line, is based on 2017 PPPs. This means that anyone living on less than $2.15 a day is considered to be living in extreme poverty. About 648 million people globally were in this situation in 2019.

The second table lists countries by the percentage of the population living below the national poverty line—the poverty line deemed appropriate for a country by its authorities. National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys.

Definitions of the poverty line vary considerably among nations. For example, rich nations generally employ more generous standards of poverty than poor nations. Even among rich nations, the standards differ greatly. Thus, the numbers are not comparable among countries. Even when nations do use the same method, some issues may remain.

Only countries for which sourced data is available are listed. Data for some countries, including Libya and Saudi Arabia, remains unavailable. It was usually accepted that over one third (33.3%) of the population in Libya and Saudi Arabia were living in the previous decade below the poverty line.

Percentage of population living on less than $2.15, $3.65 and $6.85 a day
Percentage of population (including non-citizens) living on less than $2.15, $3.65 and $6.85 a day in 2017 international (PPP) dollars as per the World Bank and Our World in Data. Sorting is by country code.

Percent of population living below national poverty line
The percentage of the population living below national poverty line (%) – poverty line deemed appropriate for a country by its authorities (however definitions of the poverty line vary considerably among nations). Sorting is by country code.