The World Bank has revealed that approximately 700 million people, or 8.5% of the global population, are living in extreme poverty, earning less than $2.15 a day.
Additionally, about 3.5 billion people, more than 40% of the world’s population, survive on less than $6.85 a day, a threshold more applicable to middle-income countries, which account for three-quarters of the global population.
This data is highlighted in the World Bank’s 2024 Year in Review report, published on its website.
“Today, about 700 million people—or 8.5 percent of the global population—live in extreme poverty on less than $2.15 a day. Around 3.5 billion people live on less than $6.85 a day, the poverty line more relevant for middle-income countries, which are home to three-quarters of the world’s population,” the report read in part.
The World Bank stressed that without significant intervention; it could take decades to eradicate extreme poverty, and over a century to eliminate poverty as it is defined for nearly half of the world’s population.
Poverty, the report noted, extends beyond a lack of income. It also encompasses insufficient access to education, healthcare, electricity, and essential services such as safe drinking water and sanitation.
As of 2024, more than one-third of people in countries eligible for support from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), and more than half of those in Sub-Saharan Africa, are experiencing multidimensional poverty.
More insight
The World Bank’s 2024 Year in Review report also highlighted the severe debt challenges facing the poorest economies, which had been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic had sharply increased the debt burdens of developing countries, and the subsequent rise in global interest rates made it even harder for many of these nations to recover.
- By the end of 2023, low- and middle-income countries had accumulated a record $8.8 trillion in external debt, an 8% increase since 2020. This debt surge, combined with a nearly 30% rise in interest payments, which reached $406 billion, left governments with limited resources for essential sectors such as health, education, and the environment.
- To address the growing crisis, the World Bank’s 2024 Year in Review report noted that it has been actively working to improve debt sustainability, transparency, and the management capacity of developing nations.
- Since 2022, the World Bank, alongside other multilateral institutions, invested an additional $51 billion into IDA-eligible economies, surpassing the amount collected from debt-service payments. The World Bank itself accounted for one-third of this total.
- The report also projected global growth to remain steady at 2.6% in 2024, with slight increases in 2025 and 2026, though still below the pre-pandemic average of 3.1%. Developing economies, home to over 80% of the global population, were expected to grow at a slower rate of 4% in 2024, signaling that recovery remained sluggish.
Additionally, while global commodity prices were expected to drop by 10% between 2024 and 2026, high food prices in developing countries were unlikely to see significant relief, with food inflation still double that of advanced economies.
