The World's Most Deprived
Characteristics and Causes of Extreme Poverty and Hunger
Key Findings
- Poverty just below $1 a day has fallen faster than poverty below 50 cents a day, suggesting that it has been easier to reach those living closer to the dollar-a-day line rather than those living well below it.
- The slow progress of poverty reduction for the world's most deprived indicates the presence of poverty traps, or conditions from which the poorest individuals or groups cannot emerge without outside assistance.
- The poorest people are most often those who live in remote rural areas, are ethnic minorities or members of excluded groups, and have less education, assets, and access to markets.
- This report looks below the $1 a day poverty threshold as defined by the international community to examine who the poorest people are, where they live, why they are the most deprived, and how they have fared over time. The three categories of poverty studied in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa are: subjacent poor (those living on between $0.75 and $1 a day), medial poor (those living on between $0.50 and $0.75 a day), and ultra poor (those living on less than $0.50 a day).*
- Of the 969 million people living on less than $1 a day in 2004, half were subjacent poor, one-third were medial poor, and about 17 percent were ultra poor.
- Approximately 162 million people worldwide are ultra poor, living on less than 50 cents a day.
Sub-Saharan Africa
- Sub-Saharan Africa is home to three-quarters (121 million) of the world's ultra poor people, and poverty is more severe here than in any other region of the world.
- Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced little progress in reducing the proportion of people in each poverty category. In particular, there has been little reduction in the rate of ultra poverty. Combined with population growth, this slow reduction has resulted in increases in the number of poor people in each poverty category.
- Nigeria is the most populous country in the region and accounts for between 21 and 30 percent of the ultra, medial and subjacent poor people living in the subcontinent. Between 1990 and 2004, the country saw increases in all three poverty categories, with a substantial rise in ultra poverty.
- In Zambia, the severity of poverty experienced by many people lessened between 1990 and 2004, with the rate of ultra poverty falling nearly 6 percent. Poverty rates in Mozambique fell substantially across all categories of poverty due to recovery efforts following the country's 15-year civil war that ended in 1992.
East Asia and the Pacific
- East Asia and the Pacific account for 5 percent of the world's ultra poor, or 8.8 million people.
- High rates of economic growth in the region benefited all poverty categories nearly equally between 1990 and 2004.
- China's experience dominates poverty trends in East Asia and the Pacific as it accounts for nearly 70 percent of the region's population. The country experienced substantial reductions in all three poverty categories.
- In Vietnam, changes in poverty rates suggested that nearly everyone in the three poverty categories benefited equally from its fast-growing economy.
South Asia
- South Asia accounts for 19.7 million, or 12 percent, of the world's poorest people.
- Like East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia achieved remarkable growth rates during the 1990s (about 5 percent); however the region was less able than East Asia and the Pacific to convert this growth to reductions in poverty.
- The ultra poor benefited the least from progress in this region, and those people living in medial poverty benefited the most.
- In India, the medial poor fared better than the subjacent poor and only marginally better than the ultra poor. Poverty rates in Bangladesh in all three categories of poverty have fallen since the end of the 1990s.
Latin America and the Caribbean
- Latin America and the Caribbean accounts for 11.5 million, or 7 percent, of the world's ultra poor people.
- Ultra poverty rose in Latin America and the Caribbean between 1990 and 2004, resulting in more people falling into ultra poverty than moving out of it.
- Brazil and Mexico, the most populous countries in the region, are home to the region's largest number of people living under $1 a day. In Venezuela, the number of ultra poor increased dramatically from nearly zero to more than 2 million between 1990 and 2004, contributing substantially to the regional trend of increased ultra poverty.
- Despite its small population, Haiti accounts for the greatest number of ultra poor people in the region (22.4 million) due to its high ultra poverty rate (27 percent). High population density, large-scale deforestation, soil erosion, and poor government pricing policies have depressed agricultural production and food availability, contributing to high poverty.
* Subjacent poverty is defined as the proportion of the population living between $0.81 and below $1.08 a day; medial poverty as between $0.54 and below $0.81 a day; and ultra poverty as below $0.54 a day. All are measured at the 1993 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) exchange rates.