Addis Ababa, October 9, 2026 (FMC) — Global extreme poverty is projected to decline to 9.8% in 2026, but approximately one in ten people worldwide continues to live in extreme poverty, underscoring the uneven pace of progress in tackling one of the world’s most pressing development challenges, according to the World Bank’s latest update.
The World Bank’s September 2026 global poverty update estimates that more than 824 million people lived in extreme poverty in 2024, representing 10.1% of the global population. The institution defines extreme poverty as living on less than 3 U.S. dollars per person per day, measured in 2021 purchasing power parity terms.
Although the global rate is expected to edge down from 10.1% in 2024 to 9.8% in 2026, the update underscores significant regional disparities, with progress in reducing extreme poverty remaining far from uniform.
Poverty rates have fallen below 5% in all World Bank regions except Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan region. Extreme poverty remains persistently high in Sub-Saharan Africa, while the rate is rising in the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan region.
The figures also reflect a downward revision in the World Bank’s global estimates following the incorporation of new household survey data and updated country-level information. Compared with its March 2026 estimates, the Bank lowered its estimate of the global extreme poverty rate for 2024 from 10.4% to 10.1%, reducing the estimated number of people affected by approximately 22.5 million.
The revised estimates draw on updated survey results and additional information, including national accounts, population projections and consumer price indices, improving the measurement of poverty across countries.
The World Bank notes that 2024 remains the latest year for which sufficient data are available to provide broad global coverage. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are nowcasts based on national accounts projections published in the institution’s June 2026 Global Economic Prospects report, rather than final observed poverty measurements.
The latest update therefore points to a modest projected decline in global extreme poverty while highlighting the scale of the challenge ahead, particularly in regions where poverty remains entrenched or is moving in the opposite direction.