Number of people living in extreme poverty
What you should know about this indicator
- The data is measured in international-$ at 2011 prices – this adjusts for inflation and for differences in the cost of living between countries.
- Data after 1981 relates to household income or consumption surveys collated by the World Bank; before 1981 it is based on historical reconstructions of GDP per capita and inequality data.
Related research and writing
Sources and processing
This data is based on the following sources
How we process data at Our World in Data
All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.
At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.
Notes on our processing step for this indicator
From the share and number unable to meet basic needs available in the dataset, we can estimate the number below different "dollar a day" poverty lines. Additionally, we estimate the share and number above these poverty lines, as well between them. We also estimate the share and number of people able to meet basic needs.
Rolling averages by decade have been calculated for the original estimates before 1981, to address uncertainty in the data.
Reuse this work
- All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
- All data, visualizations, and code produced by Our World in Data are completely open access under the Creative Commons BY license. You have the permission to use, distribute, and reproduce these in any medium, provided the source and authors are credited.
Citations
How to cite this page
To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:
“Data Page: Number of people living in extreme poverty”. Our World in Data (2024). Data adapted from Michalis Moatsos. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-people-living-in-extreme-poverty-by-region-190 [online resource]
How to cite this data
In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:
Michalis Moatsos (2021) – with major processing by Our World in Data
Full citation
Michalis Moatsos (2021) – with major processing by Our World in Data. “Number of people living in extreme poverty – Long-run estimates” [dataset]. Michalis Moatsos, “Global extreme poverty - Present and past since 1820” [original data]. Retrieved October 11, 2024 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/number-of-people-living-in-extreme-poverty-by-region-190