The number of people in the world living in acute poverty has increased for the first time since 2010 and reached 1.2 billion. These data are presented in the Global Poverty Index for 2026, prepared by the United Nations Development Programme and Oxford University.
The authors of the index measure poverty not by income, but by the lack of basic necessities: food, education, healthcare, clean water, electricity, and adequate housing. Among people in acute poverty, 617 million are children, and 83% of the poor live in rural areas.
The study covers 108 developing countries, home to 78% of the world's population. Part of the increase is linked to population growth: in 95 countries without new data, it added 15.8 million people to the number of poor.
Among the 13 countries with updated estimates, the picture was mixed. In Egypt, Nepal, and Tajikistan, both the share and the number of poor people declined, while in Angola and Zambia the share decreased, but the absolute number of poor people still increased.
In Nigeria, the decline in poverty in the 2010s was followed by growth in the 2020s, while China made the fastest progress: from 2010 to 2014, the share of poor people in the country's population fell from 9.5% to 4.2%. UNDP head Alexander De Croo called the rise in poverty a worrying signal for the whole world and said that behind these figures are 1.2 billion people facing hunger, lack of education, clean water, or electricity.
In December 2025, Reuters reported that the UN had cut its humanitarian aid request for 2026 to $23 billion from the $47 billion requested for 2025. According to the organization, it received only $12 billion in 2025, and the cut was made in part because of reductions in U.S. international aid at the initiative of Donald Trump.
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