Extreme poverty has more than halved since 1990

The World Bank draws a line at what it costs to meet the most basic needs in the poorest countries. In 1990, close to half the world lived below it.

The fall since is the fastest broad reduction in material deprivation ever measured, driven mostly by rising incomes across Asia. Progress slowed around the pandemic years, and hundreds of millions still live below the line, but the trend across the whole period points one way.