June 2025 Update to Global Poverty Lines

Since 1990, the World Bank has reported estimates of the number of people worldwide that live in extreme poverty. This poverty standard is based on how the poorest countries in the world define poverty, and typically covers basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter. These estimates have also been incorporated into the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the earlier Millenium Development Goals. 

In addition to the global extreme poverty line, the World Bank publishes a menu of additional indicators to provide a richer description of the distribution of income and consumption around the world. The extreme poverty line captures how the poorest countries define poverty, which is less relevant in middle-income countries. Therefore, the World Bank also uses higher poverty lines that are typical of lower- and upper-middle-income countries, respectively. Furthermore, the World Bank also reports a societal poverty measure, which is a relative poverty line that updates with a country’s income level. Finally, the multidimensional poverty measure goes beyond monetary income or consumption to define poverty. 

These global poverty measures are used to track progress on global goals set by the World Bank, the United Nations, and other development partners. They are also useful for cross-country comparisons and benchmarking. However, it is also important to highlight their limitations. For example, for evaluating a single country’s poverty level and trend in poverty, the country’s national poverty line is the appropriate standard. Similarly, the national poverty line should underpin policy dialogue or targeting programs to reach the poorest, since it captures the dimensions of poverty that are relevant within that specific context. 

As differences in price levels across the world evolve, the World Bank's poverty lines are periodically updated to reflect these changes. The international poverty line (as well as the lines for lower- and upper-middle income economies) relies on prices from the International Comparison Program (ICP), which collects comparative price data to produce purchasing power parities (PPPs) for the world’s economies. The most recent price information - collected in 2021- was released in May 2024, and this information is now being incorporated into the World Bank’s poverty data to provide the most accurate estimate of global poverty. Additionally, the new international poverty line incorporates recent improvements in measurement of well-being across low-income countries.

The current update of the international poverty line follows the methodology of previous updates since the establishment of the dollar-a-day poverty line in 1990. The World Bank has, however, been able to implement these new price levels faster than in previous updates to the PPPs. 

The international poverty line is periodically updated to reflect changes in prices across the world. The upward revision in the international poverty line also reflects better data on the costs of basic food, clothing, and shelter needs in low-income countries. While the data have been updated, the methods by which the international poverty line is derived have not changed. The international poverty line was last updated in 2022, when the price levels were updated from 2011 PPPs to 2017 PPPs.

Despite the new value, the international poverty line still measures the same way since first used in 1990; it identifies people living in absolute monetary poverty by the standards of the world’s poorest countries. 

The World Bank will be using poverty estimates based on 2021 PPPs for its primary reporting. Poverty estimates based on 2017 PPPs will still be made available through the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP). This will allow users to compare the headline numbers and historical figures based on alternative PPPs. In addition, the PIP allows users to set their own poverty lines. 

The IPL is the typical national poverty line in low-income countries. Similarly, the World Bank also defines poverty lines typical of lower-middle and upper-middle-income countries, respectively. These two lines are a more relevant measure for assessing poverty in middle-income countries, where extreme poverty is no longer as prevalent. These lines have also been revised with the change from 2017 to 2021 PPPs. 

Lines for middle-income countries were also revised to reflect updated national poverty lines: the updated World Bank lines incorporate more recent official poverty lines from over 60 middle-income economies (compared to the previous update). These new lines in part reflect rising standards of what it means to be living in poverty. For global monitoring purposes, we have followed a consistent approach over time: we use countries’ collective knowledge on monetary deprivation to define a benchmark for global poverty.

The World Bank's goal of reducing extreme poverty to less than 3% by 2030 has not been changed. The change to the international poverty line is not driven by methodological changes in the measurement of global poverty, but rather data updates. Better surveys from low-income countries provide a clearer picture of households’ welfare and a more accurate threshold to monitor monetary deprivation at the global level. The global standard of extreme poverty reflects a better measured value of a basic minimum of goods and services. 

On the other hand, changes to the poverty lines typical of lower- and upper-middle income countries, where data is of relatively high quality, may reflect an increase in the value of poverty lines as countries become richer. This may cause some countries to have “more poverty” even in the absence of changes to their data. However, it is important to emphasize that, for global monitoring purposes, an income group’s typical standard is an informative yardstick to use. Cross country comparisons are used all the time in economic indicators despite variations in their underlying methodologies.

The ICP is one of the world’s largest statistical initiatives, coordinated by the World Bank under the auspices of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC). The program is implemented through a global partnership of participating economies and multilateral agencies, under a well-established governance framework.

At its 47th Session in March 2016, the UNSC designated the ICP as a permanent element of the global statistical program, to be conducted on frequent three-year cycles starting from 2017. However, due to the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ICP Governing Board—after consultation with regional implementing agencies and the ICP Technical Advisory Group—postponed the 2020 cycle to 2021.

While challenges from the pandemic persisted into 2021, it was the earliest feasible point when most countries had begun lifting sanitary restrictions and resuming economic activity. As such, 2021 provided the first post-COVID snapshot of global price levels. To support countries, the ICP issued comprehensive guidelines for price collection during COVID-19, which helped maintain data quality and consistency.

To monitor global poverty, the World Bank compiles and harmonizes household survey data from around the world. When reporting aggregates, a population coverage threshold is used to determine whether the available survey data represents a sufficient share of the regional population. For a regional aggregate, survey data collected within three years of the reporting year need to account for more than half of the regional population. For reporting a global aggregate, the same population coverage rule applies together with an additional coverage requirement of more than half of the population in low- and lower-middle-income countries, which are home to most of the poor globally. When these thresholds are not met, trend-lines are either not shown, or shown as dotted lines. 

With the June 2025 update, there is sufficient population coverage to report estimates until 2023 for the world and all regions, except Sub-Saharan Africa. The availability of survey data for Egypt helped achieve coverage for the Middle East and North Africa, which was not covered in the previous update (September 2024). Within Sub-Saharan Africa, coverage is particularly limited in West Africa due to the absence of recent data for Nigeria. 

The international poverty line is used to track global extreme poverty and to measure progress on global goals set by the World Bank, the United Nations, and other development partners. 

A country’s national poverty line continues to be far more appropriate for underpinning policy dialogue or targeting programs to reach the poorest within that specific context.

The new international poverty line is set at $3.00 using 2021 international dollars. Anyone living on less than $3.00 a day is considered to be living in extreme poverty. In 2022, about 838 million people lived in extreme poverty using this measure, which is an upward revision of approximately 125 million people from the previously reported estimate of 713 million people (from September 2024 using the $2.15 line and the 2017 PPPs). 

With the June 2025 update, three main factors explain the revisions to the previously published poverty estimates. First, the adoption of the 2021 PPPs. Second, the updating of the international poverty line, which is explained both by changes in PPPs, but also updates to the underlying national poverty lines. Third, updates to the underlying household survey data, in particular new data for India.

The overall impact is a combination of these counteracting forces: The new PPPs, new poverty line, and new survey data together leads to an upward revision in extreme poverty by approximately 125 million people in 2022. 45 million fewer people are estimated to live in extreme poverty in South Asia, but all other regions experience upward revisions in the number of people below the international poverty line. The largest revision is in Sub-Saharan Africa, where an additional 111 million people are now estimated to be living in extreme poverty.

The LMIC poverty line is adjusted from its previous value of $3.65 to $4.20 and the UMIC poverty line is adjusted from $6.85 to $8.30.

The LMIC and UMIC poverty lines are revised up by 15 and 21 percent, respectively.

Compared to the estimates from September 2024, the combination of the new PPPs, new lines and new survey data, results in a downward revision of the population in LMIC poverty by 180 million people in 2022. Most of that change comes from the downward revision due to new survey data for India for 2022/23. The change in PPPs (together with the new line of $4.20) also leads to a downward revision.

For the UMIC poverty line, the result of the update is a total upward revision of 258 million people living below the poverty line in 2022. In many ways the results are the opposite of the revisions at the LMIC poverty line. The main explanation is the change in PPPs, in particular the upward revision of the poverty line, which captures the typical poverty line of upper-middle-income countries, many of which use relative poverty lines. The inclusion of new survey data, primarily from India, also causes an upward revision by 95 million.  

The revisions of the LMIC and UMIC poverty lines impact historical data to a lesser extent. The historical poverty rates at the LMIC poverty line are virtually unchanged, while more recent estimates (from 2013 onwards) have been revised downwards. The incidence of poverty at the UMIC line is revised upwards by approximately 3 percentage points in 2022, while the revision to the historical trend is smaller. As a result, the number of people living below the poverty line representative of the upper-middle income countries globally increases to approximately 3.8 billion in 2022 – slightly above the 3.7 billion people reported for 1990.

The revisions to countries’ poverty rates can come from several factors. The revision can be the direct result of the new price information implicit in the PPPs. For example, with the new PPPs, the price level might be higher than previously thought (so local currency has lower purchasing power than before), resulting in a higher poverty rate all else equal. In addition, with new PPPs, the global poverty lines are revised, which depends on both PPPs, but also the underlying national poverty lines. For example, with the update to 2021 PPPs published in June 2025, the international poverty line capturing extreme poverty is revised up by some 40 percent, which is significantly more than explained by the pure price movements. 

Changes in PPPs and associated poverty lines can lead to revisions in countries’ poverty levels, but the trend is mostly unaffected. In other words, these kinds of revisions typically shift the entire time series up or down. 

The other factor that leads to revisions in poverty estimates are new survey data that replace prior estimates. For example, the June 2025 update incorporates new survey data for India that leads to revisions in the poverty rate for the country. 

Changes in the poverty lines do not change the day-to-day realities of people living in poverty. Nonetheless, these updated lines will better capture them and thereby enable more effective and impactful policy solutions to tackle poverty. A good analogy would be a doctor who has better information and tools to diagnose, and treat, a patient’s condition.  

Finally, it should be highlighted that, when analyzing trends for a single country, the national poverty line is the appropriate standard to use. It captures the definition of poverty that is most relevant for this context, as well as how it should be updated over time to reflect changes in survey methodologies and evolving needs. 

National poverty lines reflect countries’ own definitions of the amount of resources a person needs to avoid being trapped in poverty. These poverty lines are revised routinely to take into account new survey and price data at the country level. With this update, the upward revision to the national poverty lines underpinning the international poverty line is particularly important. 

As low-income countries have adopted improved survey methodologies for measuring household welfare, they have also constructed new national poverty lines based typically on a cost-of-basic-needs approach. This means calculating the costs of a food basket reflecting the actual dietary habits of the population, as well as an estimated non-food component of household consumption. As improvements in survey methodology increase measured consumption, the estimated national poverty line increases also. As such, the national poverty lines are designed specifically for the survey data collected. 

When new PPPs are adopted, the entire historic series is revised. As such, the World Bank provides a revised overview of progress against global extreme poverty. While the trend since 1990 remains familiar, extreme poverty was revised upward and more so in the earlier years, suggesting even faster progress. For 1990, extreme poverty is revised upwards by 6 percentage points, while for 2022 it is revised upwards by only 1.5 percentage points. The revised data results in an estimated 1.5 billion people escaping extreme poverty between 1990 and 2022, compared to the previously estimated 1.3 billion. This historical revision is driven primarily by the East Asia and Pacific region, most notably China.  

The revised international poverty line affects the current level of extreme poverty, but it generally does not affect recent and projected global trends. Therefore, the main conclusions from the Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report are still valid. If anything, some of the findings and recommendations are even more pertinent: global poverty is at an even higher level than previously estimated; poverty reduction has slowed to a near-standstill; the 2020s are set to be a lost decade; and an even larger share of extreme poverty persists in Sub-Saharan Africa.

With the revised data, the World Bank projects 9 percent of the global population will still be living in extreme poverty by 2030. Thus, the SDG target of eradicating extreme poverty, as well as the World Bank goal of 3 percent or less by 2030, are now even further out of reach.  

Over the last several decades, India has changed its method of collecting consumption data. Historically, the surveys collected consumption data using the Uniform Reference Period (URP), in which survey respondents are asked for their consumption during the preceding 30-day period. With the 2011–12 round of the National Sample Survey (NSS), the Modified Mixed Reference Period (MMRP) was introduced (in addition to the URP instrument), which asks survey respondents for their consumption over the preceding 7 days for perishable items, 365 days for five low-frequency items, and 30 days for the remaining items.

To maintain comparability with historical data, the World Bank’s poverty estimates for India in the Poverty and Inequality Portal have thus far been based on consumption measures derived using the URP instrument. However, the new Household Consumption and Expenditure Survey (HCES) microdata for 2022–23, which is incorporated in the June 2025 update to the global poverty estimates, only collects data using the MMRP instrument. Therefore, with this update, data for India over the entire available time series has undergone adjustments.

The 2011–12 survey has both the URP and the MMRP aggregates and allows for a comparison of poverty based on the two approaches. To ensure comparability, the PIP estimates of 2011/12 have been revised to the MMRP, along with a number of methodological improvements. Nominal expenditure aggregates have been replaced by welfare aggregates that incorporate several methodological improvements, including an adjustment for differences in costs of living. These provide a revised trend between 2011-12 and 2022-23.

With these adjustments, extreme poverty, using an MMRP-based welfare aggregate, is estimated at 16.2 percent in 2011-12, which falls to 2.3 percent in 2022-23. This is a big change in the poverty rate estimated for India, but it is not unprecedented. Many countries around the world have improved their measurement of consumption, leading to higher measured levels of consumption, similar to India’s case (see Appendix to Chapter 1 in World Bank, 2024). 

Pre-2011 estimates have been adjusted to reflect both of these changes. Noncomparable estimates from 2015–16 to 2021–22 previously available in the Poverty and Inequality Portal have been removed. More information on the changes to India's data can be found here and in this background methodological paper.  

PPPs are both currency conversion factors and spatial price indices. They convert currencies into a common reference currency, equalizing their purchasing power by eliminating differences in price levels between countries. Relative to a base economy, PPPs show the price of a standardized basket of goods and services in each economy.

PPPs are computed by the International Comparison Program, an independent statistical program with a Global Office housed within the World Bank’s Development Data Group and working under the auspices of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC).

The ICP produces comparable volume measures of GDP and its expenditure components based on PPPs. To achieve this, the ICP coordinates the collection of comparable price data and national accounts expenditure values across participating economies. Price data are collected for a common basket of goods and services, while detailed expenditure values in local currencies are compiled from countries’ national accounts.

The ICP follows best practices in official statistics and is underpinned by a strong governance structure. It ensures that PPPs and ICP results are produced independently, using common, sound, and transparent methodologies. These methods are developed by technical experts and are peer-reviewed by renowned specialists in the field. All results are thoroughly assessed for methodological soundness by the ICP Technical Advisory Group prior to their release. 

The FAQ section on the website is a useful resource for those seeking to understand the program’s objectives, core concepts, data sources, methodologies, and applications.

Results from the next ICP 2024 cycle are scheduled for release in 2027. This release will include new benchmark PPPs for 2024, revised benchmark PPPs for 2021, and interpolated PPPs for 2022 and 2023.

The vantage points in estimating the poverty lines used by the World Bank are the national poverty lines defined by each country. This usually reflects the amount below which a person’s minimum nutritional, clothing, and shelter needs cannot be met in that specific country. These national poverty lines therefore increase with the overall level of income across countries.

These differences in national poverty lines means that we cannot simply add up the national poverty rates of each country to get a global measure of extreme poverty. This would be the equivalent of using a different yardstick in each country to identify who is poor. That’s why we need a poverty line that measures poverty in all countries by the same standard. 

In 1990, a group of researchers examined national poverty lines from some of the poorest countries in the world and converted those lines into a common currency by using purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates. The PPP exchange rates are constructed to ensure that the same quantity of goods and services are priced equivalently across countries. Once converted into a common currency, they found that in six of these very poor countries around the 1980s the value of the national poverty line was about $1 per day per person (in 1985 prices). This formed the basis for the first dollar-a-day international poverty line.

The IPL of $2.15 established in 2022 was derived as the median national poverty lines expressed in 2017 PPPs amongst the 28 countries belonging to the group of low-income countries. A similar approach is used for the current update. We identify the 23 countries classified as low-income at the time of their latest national poverty line. We convert their national poverty lines into international dollars using the new 2021 PPP conversion factors. And we identify the median amongst the 23 poverty lines. This turns out to be a poverty line of $3.04, which is the national poverty line from Burkina Faso in 2022 (expressed in 2021 PPPs). Following established praxis, this value is rounded to the nearest 10 cents, resulting in the new international poverty line of $3.00 in 2021 PPPs. 

For more details about the methodology used in deriving and updating the IPL, please see this blog and working paper. For how the IPL has been updated in the past, see Ferreira et al. (2016) and Ravallion et al. (2009).

The international extreme poverty line is expressed in international dollars (USD) based on PPPs. It is constructed from national poverty lines set by countries in their own currencies, which are then converted using PPPs from the ICP to allow global comparability.

The most recent revision reflects several factors:

1. Changes in PPPs: The shift from 2017 to 2021 PPPs increases (nominal) income or consumption by an average of 13 percent, which is slightly higher than U.S. inflation over the same period (11 percent). Among low-income countries, the increase is greater—about 21 percent. 

2. Revisions to national poverty lines: Since the last update based on 2017 PPPs, several low-income countries have revised their national poverty lines upward. Over the past several years, many of these countries have improved their household data collection methods, which has led to upward revisions in measured consumption. This does not mean that these countries have suddenly become richer; rather, the new consumption aggregates more accurately capture actual consumption—for example, by better accounting for food consumed outside the home. When consumption measures are updated, countries also need to revise the thresholds by which they define poverty. In low-income countries, these thresholds are typically based on cost-of-basic-needs poverty lines. As national poverty lines are revised upward, this in turn affects the level of the international poverty line, which reflects the typical poverty line in low-income countries.

3. Other contributing factors: Changes in country income classifications and improved data availability also play a role in the revision.

Taken together, these factors contribute to the increase in the international poverty line. Implementing the updated PPPs alone would account for approximately a $0.35 increase (from $2.15 to $2.50). The remaining increase of $0.50 (to $3.00) is largely due to the revision of national poverty lines across low-income countries.

For more details on the methodology behind the update, see this working paper.

There are many non-monetary indicators—on education, health, sanitation, water, electricity, etc.—that are extremely important for understanding the many dimensions of poverty that people experience. Different poverty measures complement each other, and having a broader view is crucial to effectively improve the lives of the poorest. 

The World Bank also monitors its multidimensional poverty measure (MPM), which incorporates both monetary and non-monetary dimensions of poverty.