Over 1.1 billion people worldwide are living in acute poverty, according to the United Nations' Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2024 (https://hdr.undp.org/content/2024-global-multidimensional-poverty-index-mpi#/indicies/MPI), released Thursday. India holds the highest number of people living in poverty at 234 million, followed by Pakistan with 93 million. Other nations with significant poverty levels include Ethiopia (86 million), Nigeria (74 million), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (66 million). "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 noted.

The report highlights the impact on children, indicating that 584 million people under 18 are experiencing extreme poverty, making up 27.9% of the world's children, while 13.5% of adults are similarly affected. Regional data shows that 83.2% of the world's poorest reside in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Low-income countries, despite comprising only 10.2% of the global population, house 34.8% of the poor, equating to 400 million people. The report also finds that 65.2% of impoverished individuals, or 749 million people, live in middle-income countries.

Poverty and Conflict

The report emphasized that 2023 witnessed the highest number of conflicts since World War II, displacing over 117 million people globally. "In 2023 there were more ongoing conflicts than at any time since the Second World War. 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," the report stated.

Nearly 40% of the world’s 1.1 billion people living in poverty—around 455 million—reside in countries experiencing conflict. Of these, 218 million are in active war zones, 335 million live in fragile or conflict-affected areas, and 375 million are in contexts marked by 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 highlighted.

The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index, released annually since 2010 by the UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), assesses poverty across 112 countries, using indicators such as housing, sanitation, electricity, cooking fuel, nutrition, and school attendance.

BOB Post