NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / – The latest data from the 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index highlights an increase in global hardship for the first time since 2010. This index identifies 1.2 billion individuals living under severe poverty across 108 nations, accounting for 18.9% of the 6.3 billion people analyzed. The total number of those in multidimensional poverty rose by 51.5 million from the previous update. The index evaluates deprivation in areas such as health, education, and living standards, rather than focusing solely on income.
Produced jointly by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, the report considers 10 key indicators. These include nutrition, child mortality, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, and household assets. An individual is classified as multidimensionally poor when their deprivations reach at least one-third of these weighted measures. This approach captures multiple concurrent hardships affecting households.
Children make up more than half of those identified as living in multidimensional poverty globally, with approximately 617 million affected, representing 51.5% of the total. Nearly one-third of children covered by the index are experiencing such poverty. Rural communities face a significantly higher burden, with about 83% of all multidimensionally poor individuals residing in rural areas. The figures reveal ongoing gaps in essential services, education, and living conditions across various countries.
Sub-Saharan Africa Shows the Highest Prevalence
More than half of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa—specifically, approximately 616 million people—live under multidimensional poverty, the highest number among all regions. This total accounts for 51.4% of the region’s population included in the index. The 2026 report incorporates new survey data from 13 countries and provides estimates at the subnational level for 1,360 regions across 100 countries. Demographic updates for countries lacking recent household surveys added 15.8 million individuals to the poverty figures, based on changes in population data.
National trends display significant variation among countries with comparable historical data. Notably, Egypt, Nepal, and Tajikistan have experienced reductions in both their multidimensional poverty rates and the total number of affected people. Angola and Zambia also lowered their share of residents living in poverty, yet overall numbers still increased due to population growth. Conversely, Nigeria saw rises in both its poverty rate and affected population after previous improvements. These patterns demonstrate that global totals can conceal diverse national experiences.
Persistent Progress in Poverty Reduction Seen in Several Nations
Long-term data highlight notable declines in multidimensional poverty across multiple regions. Out of 89 countries with trend data, 33 managed to halve their MPI value within a 15-year span. Six of these are in Sub-Saharan Africa. Eswatini reduced its multidimensional poverty rate from 38.7% to 8.0%. China achieved the fastest decline among countries with available data, dropping from 9.5% to 4.2% between 2010 and 2014. Viet Nam also succeeded in halving its MPI within seven years.
The figure of 1.2 billion affected individuals differs from estimates of extreme income poverty. Multidimensional poverty encompasses various disadvantages occurring simultaneously, such as inadequate education, poor nutrition, unsafe sanitation, and limited access to electricity or clean water. This broader approach offers a more comprehensive view of deprivation compared to income-based thresholds. The 2026 findings emphasize children, rural populations, and Sub-Saharan Africa as focal points of the recent global increase in poverty.