More than one billion people live in acute poverty worldwide, according to a Thursday report from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), with children accounting for over half of those affected.
The report, published in collaboration with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), highlights that poverty rates are three times higher in conflict-affected countries, with 2023 witnessing the most global conflicts since World War II.
UNDP and OPHI have been releasing their Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) annually since 2010, gathering data from 112 countries with a combined population of 6.3 billion.
This index measures poverty using indicators like inadequate housing, sanitation, electricity, cooking fuel, nutrition, and school attendance.
“The MPI for 2024 presents a sobering picture: 1.1 billion people suffer from multidimensional poverty, with 455 million living in the shadow of conflict,” said Yanchun Zhang, UNDP’s Chief Statistician.
“For the poor in conflict-affected countries, the struggle for basic needs is a far harsher and more desperate battle,” Zhang added.
The report reiterated previous findings that 1.1 billion of 6.1 billion people across 110 countries face extreme multidimensional poverty.
Thursday’s report further revealed that around 584 million people under 18 experience extreme poverty, accounting for 27.9% of the world’s children, compared to 13.5% of adults.
It also found that 83.2% of the world’s poorest live in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
