Poverty facts and figures

1. According to the most recent estimates, in 2023 almost 700 million people around the world were subsisting on less than $2.15.

• 2. The share of the world’s workers living in extreme poverty fell by half over the last decade: from 14.3 per cent in 2010 to 7.1 per cent in 2019. However, in 2020 it rose for the first time in two decades after the COVID-19 pandemic.
• 3. It is projected that the global goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 will not be achieved, with almost 600 million people still living in extreme poverty.
• 4. One out of six children lives in extreme poverty. Between 2013 and 2022, the number of children living on less than US$2.15 a day decreased from 383 million to 333 million, but the economic impact of COVID-19 led to three lost years of progress.
• 5. In 2021, 53 per cent of the world’s population – 4.1 billion people – did not benefit from any form of social protection.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development promises to leave no one behind and to reach those furthest behind first. Meeting this ambitious development agenda requires visionary policies for sustainable, inclusive, sustained and equitable economic growth, supported by full employment and decent work for all, social integration, declining inequality, rising productivity and a favorable environment. In the 2030 Agenda, Goal 1 recognizes that ending poverty in all its forms everywhere is the greatest global challenge facing the world today and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.