UN global poverty index rises for first time since 2010, affecting 1.2 billion

The United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative found that 51.5 million more people were living in acute poverty in the 2026 edition of their annual report compared with the previous year, bringing the total to 1.2 billion. It is the first increase recorded since the index was created in 2010.

UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo said in a press release that the rise should be a wake-up call for the world. He said the 1.2 billion people affected face hardships that reinforce one another, including hunger, missed schooling and a lack of clean water or electricity, calling the situation unacceptable. More than half of those in acute poverty were children.

The UNDP said population growth was a major factor in the recorded increase, and noted that new data was only available for 13 of the 108 developing countries covered by the report. The report nonetheless provides a mixed picture.

Some 33 nations have halved the percentage of their people living in poverty as defined by the index over the past 15 years, including six countries in sub-Saharan Africa. China and Vietnam were among the countries that made the most rapid progress, according to the UNDP.

As in the previous year, the report found that the majority of the poorest people live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, specifically the Indian subcontinent. Egypt, Nepal and Tajikistan saw significant decreases in both their poverty rate and the number of people experiencing multidimensional poverty, while in Angola and Zambia the poverty rate declined but population growth more than offset the decrease, resulting in more people living in poverty.

The index used in the report includes indicators such as the lack of adequate housing, sanitation, electricity, cooking fuel, food and education.