Extreme poverty (under $2.15 a day)

The share of people living on less than 2.15 dollars a day, in dollars adjusted for the cost of living (World Bank line, 2017 prices).

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World map: Extreme poverty (under $2.15 a day), 2024 — Map 2024. Source: Gapminder, extrême pauvreté, série longue (CC BY 4.0).

In 2024, 169 countries have a value. Highest: Madagascar (79 %), Congo - Kinshasa (74 %), Mozambique (72 %). Lowest: Taiwan (0 %), Trinidad & Tobago (0 %), Slovenia (0 %). World (population-weighted average): 9.3 %. France: < 0.1 % (135th of 169).

Country ranking in 2024

Rank	Country	Value
1	Madagascar	79 %
2	Congo - Kinshasa	74 %
3	Mozambique	72 %
4	South Sudan	72 %
5	Malawi	71 %
6	Central African Republic	67 %
7	Zambia	63 %
8	Burundi	61 %
9	Afghanistan	56 %
10	Somalia	54 %
11	Yemen	54 %
12	North Korea	48 %
13	Niger	46 %
14	Congo - Brazzaville	45 %
15	Timor-Leste	45 %
16	Eritrea	41 %
17	Sudan	41 %
18	Tanzania	41 %
19	Rwanda	39 %
20	Zimbabwe	39 %
21	Uganda	38 %
22	Angola	36 %
23	Haiti	36 %
24	Lesotho	36 %
25	Papua New Guinea	33 %
26	Kenya	32 %
27	Solomon Islands	32 %
28	Syria	32 %
29	Nigeria	31 %
30	Eswatini	31 %
31	Chad	31 %
32	Liberia	29 %
33	Venezuela	28 %
34	Burkina Faso	25 %
35	Sierra Leone	25 %
36	Guinea-Bissau	24 %
37	Togo	24 %
38	Cameroon	22 %
39	Ghana	22 %
40	Mali	21 %
41	South Africa	21 %
42	Belize	20 %
43	Cambodia	18 %
44	Djibouti	16 %
45	Gambia	16 %
46	Ethiopia	15 %
47	Namibia	15 %
48	Botswana	13 %
49	Vanuatu	13 %
50	Benin	12 %
51	Honduras	12 %
52	Guinea	10 %
53	India its history →	9.4 %
54	Senegal	8.5 %
55	Côte d’Ivoire	8.3 %
56	Cuba	7.5 %
57	Guatemala	6.6 %
58	Laos	6 %
59	Colombia	5.8 %
60	Turkmenistan	5.4 %
61	Philippines	5.2 %
62	Mauritania	5.1 %
63	Pakistan	4.7 %
64	Bangladesh	4.3 %
65	Ecuador	4 %
66	Georgia	3.8 %
67	Myanmar (Burma)	3.4 %
68	Brazil	3.3 %
69	Gabon	3.3 %
70	Equatorial Guinea	3.3 %
71	El Salvador	3.3 %
72	Nicaragua	2.9 %
73	Peru	2.8 %
74	Tajikistan	2.8 %
75	North Macedonia	2.4 %
76	Bolivia	2.1 %
77	Uzbekistan	2.1 %
78	Indonesia	1.9 %
79	Sri Lanka	1.8 %
80	Montenegro	1.7 %
81	Panama	1.6 %
82	Paraguay	1.4 %
83	Morocco	1.3 %
84	Egypt	1.2 %
85	Fiji	1.2 %
86	Libya	1.2 %
87	Mexico	1.2 %
88	Serbia	1.2 %
89	Suriname	1.1 %
90	Argentina its history →	1 %
91	Costa Rica	1 %
92	Vietnam	0.9 %
93	Palestine	0.7 %
94	Dominican Republic	0.7 %
95	Iran	0.6 %
96	Nepal	0.6 %
97	Greece	0.6 %
98	Armenia	0.5 %
99	Bulgaria	0.5 %
100	United States	0.5 %
101	Australia its history →	0.5 %
102	Hungary its history →	0.4 %
103	Kyrgyzstan	0.4 %
104	Jamaica	0.4 %
105	Japan	0.4 %
106	Austria	0.4 %
107	Latvia	0.4 %
108	Israel	0.4 %
109	Türkiye	0.3 %
110	Spain its history →	0.3 %
111	Estonia	0.3 %
112	Bahamas	0.3 %
113	United Kingdom	0.3 %
114	Croatia	0.3 %
115	Italy	0.3 %
116	Tunisia	0.3 %
117	Chile	0.3 %
118	Lithuania	0.3 %
119	Canada	0.2 %
120	Portugal its history →	0.2 %
121	Sweden its history →	0.2 %
122	Malta	0.2 %
123	Iraq	0.2 %
124	Mongolia	0.2 %
125	Norway	0.2 %
126	Russia	0.2 %
127	Uruguay	0.2 %
128	Denmark	0.1 %
129	Oman	0.1 %
130	Slovakia	0.1 %
131	Poland	< 0.1 %
132	Germany its history →	< 0.1 %
133	Jordan	< 0.1 %
134	Netherlands its history →	< 0.1 %
135	France its history →	< 0.1 %
136	Ireland	< 0.1 %
137	Luxembourg	< 0.1 %
138	Bosnia & Herzegovina	< 0.1 %
139	Guyana	< 0.1 %
140	Belgium	< 0.1 %
141	Switzerland its history →	< 0.1 %
142	Czechia	< 0.1 %
143	Moldova	< 0.1 %
144	Ukraine its history →	< 0.1 %
145	Finland	< 0.1 %
146	Kazakhstan	< 0.1 %
147	South Korea	< 0.1 %
148	Cyprus	< 0.1 %
149	Saudi Arabia	< 0.1 %
150	Thailand	< 0.1 %
151	Albania	0 %
152	United Arab Emirates	0 %
153	Azerbaijan	0 %
154	Belarus	0 %
155	Brunei	0 %
156	Bhutan	0 %
157	China	0 %
158	Algeria	0 %
159	Iceland	0 %
160	Kuwait	0 %
161	Lebanon	0 %
162	Malaysia	0 %
163	New Zealand	0 %
164	Qatar	0 %
165	Romania	0 %
166	Singapore	0 %
167	Slovenia	0 %
168	Trinidad & Tobago	0 %
169	Taiwan	0 %

9 countries or territories have no value that year.

Continent averages

World (population-weighted average)	9.3 %
Europe (average)	0.2 %
Africa (average)	31 %
Americas (average)	3.1 %
Asia (average)	5.2 %
Oceania (average)	8.8 %

Understanding this map

Four lines, four questions

The first three lines are absolute: the same amount, adjusted for the cost of living, everywhere and at any time. $2.15 a day measures destitution (hunger, no decent housing); $3.65 and $6.85 are the lines the World Bank considers suited to middle-income countries, where $2.15 is no longer enough to live decently. The fourth is relative: it counts those who are much poorer than their fellow citizens, whatever the country's standard of living. It answers another question: who is shut out of their country's ordinary way of life?

Two centuries of decline

According to Gapminder's estimates, about 80% of humanity lived below $2.15 a day in 1800, still two thirds in 1900 and over 40% in 1980; it is under 10% today. The most spectacular decline is China's (about 90% in 1980, almost no one today), followed by India and Bangladesh. With the $6.85 line the picture is less rosy: 44% of humanity still lives below it, including three quarters of Indians and 14% of Chinese. Extreme poverty is now concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa: Madagascar, DR Congo, South Sudan, Mozambique and Malawi have more than two thirds of their people below it.

The relative line: a measure of inequality

On the relative line, Denmark (11%), Czechia and Finland do best, France is around 16%, Italy and Spain about 22%, the United States 25%. But India is only at 14%: not because destitution is rare there (45% of Indians live below $3.65), but because most people have incomes close to the median. This line therefore says how far the bottom of the ladder falls behind the middle, not how many people lack the essentials. For France, the World Bank counts slightly more poor people than Insee (about 14 to 15%): it divides household income by the number of people, while Insee allows for the savings of living together (a couple does not need two homes).

Limits

The $2.15 and $6.85 series go back to 1800: before the first surveys (around 1980 in most countries) they are Gapminder reconstructions from GDP per person and estimated inequality, orders of magnitude; the latest years are estimates. The $3.65 and relative views come directly from World Bank surveys (1980-2021): between two surveys at most ten years apart the value is interpolated, and the tooltip gives the year of the latest. Many poor countries measure consumption rather than income. The World Bank raised its lines in 2025 ($3, $4.20 and $8.30, 2021 prices); these series keep the old ones. For the relative line, world and continents are country medians.

Sources : Gapminder, extrême pauvreté, série longue (CC BY 4.0)

In the same theme : Inequality

Gini index Share of the richest 10%Poverty

All maps

Electoral democracy index Women's right to vote Life expectancy at birth Children dying before age 5 Children per woman GDP per capita Economic freedom index Median income per person per month Income inequality (Gini index)Income share of the richest 10%Extreme poverty (under $2.15 a day)Tax revenue Public debt Public debt per person Public spending Military spending Public spending on education Public spending on health Public social spending Research and development spending Share of public debt held abroad Interest paid on public debt Share of taxes eaten up by interest on debt Public debt in years of taxes Total government revenue Top marginal income tax rate Budget balance: deficit or surplus Interest-growth gap (r − g)10-year government borrowing rate Household electricity prices Gender gap in hourly wages CO₂ emissions per person — on the territory Share of electricity from low-carbon (renewables + nuclear) sources Population and density Share of people aged 65 and over Immigrants as a share of the population Share of people with no religion Largest religion Countries accessible without a visa

Page updated on 2026-11-03.