Chapter 1

Poverty trends

Reviews poverty trends across the region in both monetary and multidimensional terms, including subnational variation.

Social Outlook 2026 2 min read 5 figures

Extreme monetary poverty has declined dramatically but persists in absolute numbers. While the average poverty rate in the region dropped from 50% in 1995 to 4% in 2024, 190 million people still live in extreme poverty, measured by the most recent international poverty line of $3 per day. Using hybrid poverty lines, 310 million people are classified as extremely poor, underscoring the scale of the challenge that remains.

Moderate monetary poverty is more widespread. About 600 million people live below $4.20 per day and 2.2 billion people live below the international poverty line of $8.30 per day, as of 2024. This indicates that 13% and 47% people in the region, respectively, are monetarily poor.

Figure 1.1. Monetary poverty trends based on international poverty lines in the Asia-Pacific region (1995–2024)
Figure 1.1
Source: ESCAP calculations based on estimates from the World Bank Group, “Poverty and Inequality Platform”, 2026. Available at https://data360.worldbank.org/en/dataset/WB_PIP (accessed on 4 June 2026).1
Note: PPP: purchasing power parity.

Progress is uneven across subregions. East and North-East Asia, and North and Central Asia have largely eliminated extreme poverty, while South and South-West Asia and several countries in the Pacific continue to record the highest poverty rates at 7% and 12%, respectively. South and South-West Asia has the largest number of people living in extreme poverty, with approximately 142 million people affected, followed by South-East Asia, with 39 million people in extreme poverty. The rapid reduction in monetary poverty observed since the late 1990s began to slow down since 2014 and decelerated further after 2020 amid pandemic and cost-of-living pressures. Based on hybrid monetary poverty lines, only about half of the population of the Asia-Pacific region is neither poor nor vulnerable. Close to 1.2 billion people across the region live very close to the poverty line and remain economically vulnerable.

Figure 1.2. Monetary poverty trends based on international poverty lines across Asia-Pacific subregions
Figure 1.2
Source: ESCAP elaborations based on estimates from the World Bank Group, “Poverty and Inequality Platform”, 2026. Available at https://data360.worldbank.org/en/dataset/WB_PIP (accessed on 4 June 2026).
Notes:
• The trend line depends on the availability of country-level data. A blank or discontinuous segment indicates periods for which no country-level data are available for the respective region.
• PPP: purchasing power parity.

While extreme and moderate poverty decline alongside rising income levels, the share of the population experiencing economic vulnerability grows. Over a quarter of the population in upper-middle-income and high-income countries in Asia and the Pacific appear economically vulnerable, living just above the poverty line.

Figure 1.6. Monetary poverty rates with hybrid poverty lines rates across the Asia-Pacific region by income status (2026)
Figure 1.6
Source: ESCAP elaborations based on ESCWA estimates. Not publicly available.

Within countries, disparities are stark and rarely does a single circumstance identify the poorest. Common factors include larger households, rural residence and low education. Furthest-behind groups often face poverty rates 4 to 10 times those of the furthest-ahead groups, representing 12% of national populations on average. Deprivations beyond income remain substantial.

Figure 1.7. Within-country variation in monetary poverty across Asia-Pacific subregions
Figure 1.7
Source: ESCAP elaborations based on LNOB methodology. Available at https://lnob.unescap.org/index.php/methodology.

According to the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), 495.6 million people are multidimensionally poor and 659.9 million are vulnerable to multidimensional poverty. About 79% of MPI-poor individuals, or 389.8 million, live in the South and South-West Asia subregion. Across the region, 85% of MPI-poor live in rural areas. Leading deprivations include housing, nutrition, cooking fuel, sanitation and years of schooling.

Figure 1.8. Multidimensional poverty rates in countries across Asia-Pacific subregions
Figure 1.8
Source: ESCAP elaborations based on OPHI Global MPI 2025, Table 1 National Results. Available at https://ophi.org.uk/global-mpi/2025.

Over time, there has been encouraging progress in reducing multidimensional poverty across the region, with faster reductions in rural areas and impoverished regions. However, children remain disproportionately affected, in addition to older persons, persons with disabilities and women.

The findings of this chapter underscore the need for tailored, targeted and multidimensional policy approaches to ensure that future progress in poverty reduction is both inclusive and resilient.