Regional Poverty Trends

Poverty is not distributed equally across the world. Understanding regional patterns reveals where progress is being made and where challenges persist.

67%

of extreme poor live in Sub-Saharan Africa

464M

people in extreme poverty in SSA (2024)

-45M

fewer poor in South Asia (2022-2025)

46.0%

extreme poverty rate in Sub-Saharan Africa

Key Regional Insights

📊

Sub-Saharan Africa Concentration

Despite accounting for only 16% of the world's population, Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 67% of people living in extreme poverty. The number of poor increased from 282 million in 1990 to 464 million in 2024.

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South Asia's Remarkable Progress

South Asia experienced the most significant decline in extreme poverty between 2022 and 2025, with 45 million fewer people living below the poverty line. The region shows what sustained economic growth can achieve.

🌎

Latin America Recovery

Latin America's poverty rate declined to 27.3% in 2023, with projections showing further improvement to 25% by 2024. About 170 million people still live in poverty, with extreme poverty affecting 10.6% of the population.

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Uneven Recovery from COVID-19

The pandemic caused extreme poverty to surge by 2.4 percentage points in South Asia and 1.27 points in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020. While global poverty has returned to pre-pandemic levels, regional recovery remains highly uneven.

Key Finding: Sub-Saharan Africa's poverty rate (46.0%) is more than four times the global average (10.1%) and over 50 times higher than Europe and Central Asia (0.9%).

Key Finding: Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 464 million of the world's 839 million extreme poor (55%), followed by South Asia with 231 million (28%). These two regions contain 83% of the world's extreme poor.

Key Finding: While East Asia reduced poverty from 66% to 1.2%, Sub-Saharan Africa's rate has only declined from 54% to 46% over the same period. The divergence reveals the inequality in global development progress.

Key Finding: In 1990, East Asia accounted for 60% of the world's poor. By 2024, that share fell to just 4%, while Sub-Saharan Africa's share rose from 15% to 67%, making it the epicenter of global poverty.

Key Finding: While extreme poverty ($3.00/day) affects 10.6% of Latin Americans, using the $3.65/day threshold reveals 89 million people (about 14%) struggling with poverty, highlighting how threshold definitions impact our understanding.

Understanding Regional Classifications

World Bank Regional Groupings

The World Bank organizes countries into six geographic regions for analytical purposes:

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): All countries in Africa except North African countries (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco)
South Asia (SA): Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka
East Asia and Pacific (EAP): China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, and Pacific island nations
Latin America and Caribbean (LAC): All countries in Central America, South America, and Caribbean islands
Middle East and North Africa (MENA): Countries from Morocco to Iran, including North Africa and Arabian Peninsula
Europe and Central Asia (ECA): Eastern Europe, Turkey, and former Soviet republics

Data Coverage and Accuracy

Regional estimates depend on survey coverage. As of 2024, Sub-Saharan Africa has 56.7% survey coverage, significantly improved by new data from Nigeria. South Asia maintains high coverage at over 85%, while coverage varies in other regions. Estimates for countries without recent surveys use statistical models based on GDP growth, inflation, and consumption patterns.

The 2021 PPP Update Impact

The June 2025 update to 2021 Purchasing Power Parity standards and the increase in the international poverty line from $2.15 to $3.00/day had varying impacts across regions. Sub-Saharan Africa saw upward revisions in poverty estimates, while some middle-income regions like Latin America saw more modest changes.