How many people are living in extreme poverty in the developing world? How does the new measure compare to the earlier update issued in 2007?
• The new threshold for extreme poverty is now set at $1.25 a day in 2005 prices. And the new poverty estimates show that 1.4 billion people in developing countries are living in extreme poverty, on less than $1.25 a day (in 2005 prices). • According to the new data, poverty rates have fallen from 52 percent in 1981 to 42 percent in 1990 to 26 percent in 2005. • Previous estimates were 950 million people or 17 percent of the developing world’s population in 2005 were living on $1.08 a day or less. The new estimates show an additional 400 million people living in poverty by our new measure. • However the rate of decrease in the poverty rate between 1981 and 2005 remains about the same, at about 1 percentage point per year for the developing world as a whole.
