NEW YORK / RankWire.AI / – For the first time since the measure’s inception in 2010, global multidimensional poverty has gone up. The 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index reports that 1.2 billion individuals live in severe poverty across 108 nations. This number makes up 18.9% of the 6.3 billion people included in the study. The total has risen by 51.5 million people since the last update. The findings consider difficulties related to health, education, and living conditions rather than income alone.
The latest assessment was produced by the United Nations Development Programme in collaboration with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative. The researchers analyze 10 indicators, including nutrition, child mortality, schooling, school attendance, and cooking fuel. They also evaluate sanitation, access to drinking water, electricity, housing quality, and household assets. The index classifies individuals as multidimensionally poor if their deprivations reach at least one-third of the total weight. This method captures various hardships that can affect the same household simultaneously.
More than half of those identified as multidimensionally poor worldwide are children. Approximately 617 million children live under these conditions, which represents 51.5% of the global total. Nearly one-third of children covered by the index face multidimensional poverty. Rural populations experience this hardship far more than urban communities. About 83% of all multidimensionally poor people reside in rural areas. These figures highlight ongoing gaps in essential services, education, and living conditions in many countries.
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest share
Sub-Saharan Africa is home to roughly 616 million people living in multidimensional poverty, more than any other region. This accounts for 51.4% of the population in the region included in the index. The 2026 report includes new survey data from 13 countries. It also provides regional estimates for 1,360 areas across 100 countries. Updated population figures affected the results in countries without recent household surveys. In 95 of those countries, demographic updates added 15.8 million individuals to the poverty total.
National trends vary greatly across countries with comparable past data. Egypt, Nepal, and Tajikistan saw declines in both their multidimensional poverty rates and the number of affected people. Angola and Zambia decreased the percentage of residents living in multidimensional poverty. However, due to population growth, their total numbers still rose. Nigeria experienced increases in both its poverty rate and total affected population after earlier improvements. These patterns demonstrate that global figures can hide significant national differences.
Many nations maintain ongoing reductions in poverty
Historical data also reveals substantial declines in multidimensional poverty in several regions. Of 89 countries with trend data, 33 cut their MPI in half within 15 years. Six of these countries 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 halved its MPI within seven years.
The 1.2 billion figure differs from estimates of extreme income poverty. Multidimensional poverty considers multiple disadvantages experienced simultaneously. These include inadequate schooling, poor nutrition, unsafe sanitation, and limited access to electricity or clean water. This broader approach offers a more comprehensive picture of deprivation than income thresholds alone. The 2026 results place particular emphasis on children, rural populations, and Sub-Saharan Africa in the recent rise in global poverty.