Extreme Poverty in the World, 1981–Present

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Last updated: Monday June 28th, 2021

The percentage of the world's population living in extreme poverty has declined by huge amounts since 1981.

Defined as $1.90 per day in 2011 dollars

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Year	% Absolute Poverty
1981	42.7
1982	42.3
1983	41.4
1984	39.8
1985	38.2
1986	36.8
1987	35.8
1988	33.8
1989	36.9
1990	36.2
1991	36
1992	35.1
1993	34.3
1994	33.2
1995	31.3
1996	29.7
1997	29.6
1998	29.9
1999	28.8
2000	27.8
2001	26.9
2002	25.7
2003	24.7
2004	22.9
2005	21
2006	20.3
2007	19.1
2008	18.4
2009	17.6
2010	16
2011	13.9
2012	12.9
2013	11.4
2014	10.7
2015	10.1
2016	9.7
2017	9.3

11 Comments

+13

Level ∞

Nov 4, 2019

A large amount of this change can be attributed to China where extreme poverty has declined from more than 50% of the population to nearly zero.

Level 80

Nov 6, 2019

Honest question: does the data comes from Chinese sources, or it's reliable?

+11

Level 79

Nov 6, 2019

Whether the data is 100% accurate or not it's undeniable that the country has undergone a huge economic shift. You can see this from a number of different metrics reported both within and outside of China.

Level ∞

Jun 28, 2021

Do you honestly think there are significant number of people in China still living on less than $1.90/day? That seems unlikely.

I don't trust Chinese numbers in general, but this one seems accurate.

+12

Level 70

Nov 6, 2019

Hans Rosling had some great videos on how extreme poverty has declined over the past few years. One of my biggest takeaways from his TEDtalk is really being able to visually see the economic impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. A lot of development was just absolutely railroaded.

Level ∞

Nov 6, 2019

Fortunately, the worst of the HIV/AIDs epidemic has now passed. In almost every country in Africa, life expectancy is at all-time highs and rising.

Level 79

Nov 6, 2019

Wait, did my comment get deleted?

Level ∞

Nov 8, 2019

Yeah, sorry. I felt it contained an unnecessary reference to a certain world leader that tends to get people emotionally fired up. I didn't feel the reference was necessary since this chart ends in 2015.

Level 79

Nov 8, 2019

Oh, okay. Yeah, probably best to avoid those long long message chains. I didn't even think twice about saying the name, but you're probably right to have moderated that out. :) Thanks for letting me know why, though! I was really worried I was going crazy.

Level 73

Jul 21, 2022

I'd be interested to see if the pandemic has any impact on the chart.

Level 79

Aug 1, 2025

I agree with you on China, QM.

With certain other countries, government sponsored stats may or may not be reliable.

For example, if a government wants to show that they have somehow lifted up a large number of people out of poverty, all they have to do is:

1) Make sure the poverty line, and the extreme poverty line, are ridiculously low, so that less people come under it.

2) Control the P.R., the narrative and the media.

Clearly the easiest way..