NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / – For the first time since its inception in 2010, global multidimensional poverty has increased, affecting 1.2 billion people across 108 countries. The 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index encompasses 6.3 billion individuals, revealing that 18.9% live under severe multidimensional deprivation. This latest figure is 51.5 million higher than the previous report when comparing data on the same basis. UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo described the rise as a “wake-up call for the world.” Unlike traditional measures focused solely on income, the index assesses overlapping deprivations in health, education, and living conditions.
The recent report was produced by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative. Their index evaluates 10 indicators, including nutrition, education, sanitation, access to drinking water, electricity, housing, household assets, child mortality, school attendance, and cooking fuel. An individual is classified as multidimensionally poor when deprivations amount to at least one-third of the weighted indicators within the index. This broader framework offers policymakers a more comprehensive view of hardship than relying solely on income thresholds.
Children make up more than half of those living in multidimensional poverty. Approximately 617 million children fall under this measure, representing 51.5% of the global total. Nearly one in three children covered by the index experiences multidimensional poverty, with rural communities bearing an even larger share. About 83% of all individuals living in multidimensional deprivation reside in rural areas, where disparities in basic services persist across many nations included in the dataset.
Sub-Saharan Africa Faces the Highest Burden
With 616 million people affected, sub-Saharan Africa has the largest number of individuals experiencing multidimensional poverty among all regions. This figure accounts for 51.4% of the region’s population evaluated by the index. The 2026 update incorporates fresh survey data from 13 countries and subnational estimates for 1,360 regions across 100 countries. In 95 nations lacking new survey data, updated population estimates added 15.8 million to the count of those living in multidimensional poverty this year.
Results by country reveal both setbacks and notable progress. Countries such as Egypt, Nepal, and Tajikistan saw significant declines in both their poverty rates and affected populations. Angola and Zambia reduced their poverty shares, but due to population growth, the total number of poor individuals increased. Conversely, Nigeria experienced an upward trend after earlier improvements during the 2010s, with its poverty rate and the number of people in multidimensional poverty rising in recent data.
Half of the Countries Have Cut Multidimensional Poverty by 50%
Historical data indicate that rapid reductions remain achievable across various regions and income levels. Among 89 countries with trend data, 33 managed to halve their MPI scores in less than 15 years. Six of these are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Eswatini notably decreased its multidimensional poverty rate from 38.7% to 8.0%. China achieved the fastest reduction among the countries with available data, while Viet Nam halved its MPI value within just seven years.
The 2026 report emphasizes the difference between multidimensional poverty and income-based extreme poverty. While the MPI captures simultaneous shortages in vital aspects of daily life, income poverty relies on a monetary threshold. Therefore, the new findings do not imply that 1.2 billion people are living below the global extreme-poverty income line. Instead, they highlight that over one billion individuals face multiple overlapping disadvantages in fundamental needs, with children and rural residents making up the largest portions.