Inequality and Shared Prosperity

The pandemic has caused unprecedented reversals in poverty reduction that are exacerbated by rising inflation and the effects of the war in Ukraine. We estimate that these combined crises will lead to an additional 75 million to 95 million people living in extreme poverty in 2022, compared to pre-pandemic projections. Read more.

Note on global poverty lines: These estimates (from early 2022) are calculated using the US$1.90 per person per day poverty line, which was updated in September 2022 to US$2.15 per person per day. Poverty data are now expressed in 2017 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) prices, versus 2011 PPP in previous editions. The new global poverty lines of $2.15, $3.65, and $6.85 reflect the typical national poverty lines of low-income, lower-middle-income, and upper-middle-income countries in 2017 prices. New nowcast estimates at the US$2.15 poverty line will be available in October 2022. Read more.

In much of the world today, the incomes of the poor are growing.

Shared prosperity, defined as the average annual growth in income or consumption of the poorest 40 percent (the bottom 40) within each country, was positive in 70 out of the 91 economies for which data is available. In 49 out of these 70 economies, the incomes of the bottom 40 grew faster than the average. Read More.

Often shared prosperity cannot be measured where we need to understand it the most.

Among the 164 economies with international poverty measures, 57 economies have a poverty rate higher than 10 percent in the 2015 global line-up. Of these, only 13 have a shared prosperity indicator. Read More.