Over 1.1 billion people are living in acute poverty with India having the highest number of poor people followed by Pakistan, according to UN‘s Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2024 released on Thursday.
“The five countries with the largest number of people living in poverty are India (234 million), which is medium HDI, and Pakistan (93 million), Ethiopia (86 million), Nigeria (74 million) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (66 million), all low HDI.Together, these five countries account for nearly half (48.1 percent) of the 1.1 billion poor people,” the report said.
The report said that approximately 584 million people under 18 are living in extreme poverty, making up 27.9% of all children globally, compared to 13.5% of adults. The findings also indicated that 83.2% of the world’s poorest individuals reside in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Meanwhile, low- income countries which comprise 10.2% of the population covered are home to 34.8% of all poor people (400 million). Further, 65.2% of poor (749 million) live in middle- income countries.
Poverty in conflicted regions
The report noted that 2023 witnessed more conflicts than at any time since World War II causing displacement of over 117 million people.
“In 2023 there were more ongoing conflicts than at any time since the Second World War.2 The number of people forced to flee from their homes due to violent conflict, disasters or other factors reached an all-time high of 117 million,” it said.
It studied the number of poor people in conflicted region. Nearly 40% of the 1.1 billion people live in poverty—approximately 455 million—are situated in countries experiencing conflict. This includes 218 million individuals residing in active war zones, 335 million in fragile or conflict-affected areas, and 375 million living in contexts characterized by very low or low peace.
“The conflict in Gaza has resulted in an estimated 83 percent of the total population being internally displaced, a condition further aggravated by the destruction of over 60 percent of Gaza’s housing stock, as of the end of 2023,” the report noted.
Since 2010, the UNDP and OPHI have released their Multidimensional Poverty Index annually, collecting data from 112 countries with a total population of 6.3 billion. The index utilizes indicators such as inadequate housing, sanitation, electricity, cooking fuel, nutrition, and school attendance.