Global multidimensional poverty rises for first time since 2010, affecting 1.2 billion people - UN
The number of people living in acute multidimensional poverty worldwide has risen for the first time since the global index was introduced in 2010, reaching 1.2 billion, according to a new United Nations Development Programme report.
The 2026 update of the Multidimensional Poverty Index, developed jointly by UNDP and the University of Oxford's Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, puts the total 51.5 million higher than in the previous assessment on a comparable basis.
More than half of those affected - 617 million - are children, while 83% live in rural areas.
Unlike measures based solely on income, the index examines deprivation across ten weighted indicators covering health, education and living standards. People are classified as multidimensionally poor if they experience deprivation in at least one-third of those weighted indicators.
"The rise in poverty should be a wake-up call for the world," UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo said.
"Behind these figures are 1.2 billion people facing hardships that reinforce one another: hunger, missed schooling and a lack of clean water or electricity."
The increase partly reflects population growth and updated estimates rather than a uniform deterioration in living conditions across countries.
In 95 countries without new survey data, revised population estimates alone added 15.8 million people to the global count. Changes in poverty rates, demographic trends and survey coverage accounted for the remaining difference.
The report also highlights substantial progress in some countries.
Egypt, Nepal and Tajikistan recorded significant reductions in both poverty rates and the number of people affected. In Angola and Zambia, poverty rates declined, but population growth pushed the absolute number of people living in poverty higher.
Nigeria, meanwhile, saw progress made during the 2010s reverse in the 2020s, with both the poverty rate and the number of people affected increasing.
Among 89 countries with data tracking changes over time, 33 halved their multidimensional poverty index value in fewer than 15 years.
The 2026 index covers 108 countries in developing regions, representing approximately 78% of the world's population.