Daily Data InsightsIn many countries, more than half of the population faces poverty in multiple dimensions

January 14, 2025

In many countries, more than half of the population faces poverty in multiple dimensions

A world map illustrates the share of the population living in multidimensional poverty, defined as deprivation in health, education, and living standards. The map employs varying shades of purple and pink to indicate the percentage of the population affected by multidimensional poverty in different countries.
Countries are marked with a gradient from light pink (representing 0% of the population living in multidimensional poverty) to dark purple (representing 100%). For some countries, specific percentages are highlighted, such as 91% in Niger, 84% in Chad, and 80% in the Central African Republic. Areas with no data are shown in diagonal stripes. The footer notes the data comes from Alkire, Kanagaratnam, and Suppa (2024) as part of the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2024. It mentions that the estimates are based on recent household survey data from 2011 to 2023, but for 62% of countries, the data refers to the period after 2018. The chart is published by Our World in Data.

The experience of poverty goes far beyond having no or low income. Unfortunately, still in many countries today, a large share of people experience severe poverty in many areas of life, such as health, education, and living standards.

To capture this broader reality, researchers from the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative and the UN Development Programme developed the global Multidimensional Poverty Index. This group of indicators measures poverty across essential areas of well-being, capturing whether people are undernourished, whether they lost a child, and lack access to education or basic facilities like clean water or electricity.

The map shows the share of the population in each country living in multidimensional poverty, highlighting where households face overlapping deprivations.

In countries across South America and some in East Asia, this share is less than 10%. But in many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, more than half of the people experience these extreme conditions. The share even exceeds 4 in 5 people in Niger (91%), Chad (84%), and the Central African Republic (80%).

These figures are based on data from over 100 countries drawn from household surveys conducted between 2011 and 2023.

Our latest Daily Data Insights

See all Daily Data Insights

A line graph illustrates the share of the population in Bangladesh with access to basic electricity from 1991 to 2021. Basic electricity means it can provide lighting, and charge a phone or power a radio for at least four hours per day.

Annotations on the graph explain: "In 1991, only ~14% of the Bangladeshi population had basic access to electricity" and "In 2021, 99% of people had electricity access."

Yesterday

In the last 30 years, almost everybody in Bangladesh gained access to basic electricity

In 1991, fewer than 15% of people in Bangladesh had access to electricity. Thirty years later, access was almost universal.

Over 100 million Bangladeshis have gained access to electricity during this time. This enables them to light their homes, use household appliances, or stay connected through phones and the Internet.

The statistic measures the lowest “tier” of energy access: the capacity for basic lighting and charging a phone for at least four hours a day. But more than half the people in Bangladesh now also have a higher tier of electricity access, which means capacity to power high-load appliances (such as fridges) and electricity for more than eight hours a day.

The UN has set a target to achieve universal access to electricity by 2030. Currently, about 9 in 10 people worldwide have basic access to electricity.

You can explore the progress in other countries in our SDG Tracker here →

The chart shows global cement production from 1926 to 2023, highlighting a significant rise in production over the last century. The y-axis represents production in billions of tons, and the x-axis shows the timeline.

From 1926 to around 2000, there was a steady increase in cement production, followed by rapid growth between 2003 and 2013, during which production doubled. The chart notes this doubling with a marker. After 2013, growth slowed, with the line showing a plateau and slight fluctuations. The graph emphasizes that growth in cement production has decelerated over the last decade after the earlier rapid expansion.

January 16

Global cement production has plateaued over the last decade

Global cement production grew rapidly through the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. In the decade from 2003 to 2013 alone, production doubled from 2 to 4 billion tonnes.

But, as you can see in the chart, this growth has stalled in the last 10 years. There has been some variation from year to year, but overall, global production has stayed around 4 billion tonnes. This data comes from the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

China was a significant driver of global growth in the 1990s and 2000s but has also reached a plateau in production. It now produces more than half of the world’s cement.

Cement production makes up around 7% of global CO 2 emissions.

Explore global trends in other metals and minerals in our data explorer →

A bar chart displays the number of refugees per 1,000 people in various countries for the year 2023. The countries are listed on the left alongside their corresponding values represented by horizontal bars. Lebanon has the highest number, with 137 refugees per 1,000 people, followed by Jordan with 60. Turkey follows with 37, while Germany has 31. Poland shows 25 refugees per 1,000, and the Netherlands has 13. France reports 10, the UK shows 6.5, Italy has 5, and the US has the lowest with 1.2. Each country is accompanied by its national flag. The data is sourced from UNHCR for 2024 and can be found at OurWorldInData.org/migration.

January 15

Countries differ sharply in how many refugees they host

Some countries take in far more refugees than others relative to their population.

A refugee is defined by the UN as someone needing international protection, who has fled their home country and whose home country’s government cannot or will not protect them.

This chart shows the cumulative number of refugees per 1,000 people in the country where they live as of 2023.

There are huge differences between countries: Lebanon hosts 137 refugees for every 1,000 residents — over four times as many as Germany (31) or Poland (25). Those numbers are still much higher than the Netherlands (13) and France (10), far above the United States at just 1.2 refugees per 1,000 residents.

These differences reflect conflicts in neighboring regions and national policies welcoming or deterring refugees.

Explore the number of refugees per 1,000 people for more destination countries →

January 13

The world has passed “peak child”

The number of children in the world has stopped growing. This moment in time was given the term “peak child” by the late Hans Rosling.

The chart shows the estimated number of children under five years old globally up to 2023, with projections from the United Nations out to 2100. The UN thinks the number of under-5s peaked in 2017.

The chart also shows the number of young people under 15, which peaked in 2021. And the number of under-25s, which may have peaked last year.

“Peak child” is a sign that the world is on course for “peak population”. The UN expects the world population to start falling before the end of the century.

Read more about the key insights from the latest UN World Population Prospects →

This is an image of a scatter plot comparing the share of adult men and women who smoke any form of tobacco across different countries. The x-axis represents the share of women who smoke, while the y-axis represents the share of men who smoke. Each dot on the graph represents a country, and countries are color-coded by region: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America.

The plot shows that in almost every country, a higher percentage of men smoke compared to women, as most countries fall above the diagonal line labeled "A higher share of men smoke."

January 10

Men are more likely to smoke than women almost everywhere in the world

Almost one-quarter of adults in the world smoke tobacco. However, there are significant differences by gender.

More than one-third of men smoke, while less than one in ten women do.

Men are more likely to smoke in almost every country in the world. You can see this on the chart, which plots the share of men who smoke versus the share of women. Nearly all countries lie above the diagonal line, which means more men smoke than women.

This data is collated and published by the World Bank. It’s based on adults aged 15 years and older and includes all tobacco products.

Explore all of our data and research on smoking across the world →

This chart presents US cancer death rates in children under five years old, measured in reported annual death rates per 100,000 children. It consists of four graphs:

1. All Malignant Cancers Combined: This graph, shown in black, illustrates a decline in childhood cancer death rates from about 11 per 100,000 in 1950 to around 1.8 in 2021, indicating a six-fold decrease since the 1950s.

2. Leukemia: This graph shows a decrease from around 5 per 100,000 in 1950 to less than 1 in 2021, following a similar declining trend throughout the decades.

3. Brain and Nervous System Cancers: This chart shows some fluctuations but overall a decline from nearly 0.8 per 100,000 in 1950 to about 0.4 in 2021.

4. Lymphomas and Multiple Myeloma: This graph shows fluctuations and a decline from around 0.8 in the late 1950s to less than 0.2 by 2021.

The data is sourced from the WHO Mortality Database (2024), with a note indicating that figures may fluctuate year-by-year due to low numbers.

January 09

Childhood cancer deaths in the United States have declined six-fold over the last seventy years

Childhood cancer deaths in the United States have fallen dramatically over time, as shown in the chart. It presents annual cancer death rates in children under five years old.

There has been a six-fold decline since the 1950s.

This progress reflects decades of collaboration between scientists, clinicians, and public health workers.

One major success story has been in treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a common form of leukemia in children: researchers identified genetic mutations that caused the disease, making it possible to develop targeted chemotherapy drugs that have greatly improved survival. Surgeries, bone marrow transplants, and other treatments have also played a role.

We’ve also seen big improvements for other blood cancers, such as lymphomas and multiple myeloma, though progress has been slower for cancers of the brain and nervous system.

Explore more data on our page on cancer →