In June 2025, the World Bank raised its international poverty line from $2.15 to $3 per day. The change moved the headline count of people in extreme poverty upward without anyone’s income falling, which is why it confused many readers. This article explains what changed, why, and what the new numbers show, using an analysis by Our World in Data.
What is the international poverty line?
The international poverty line is a daily income threshold that the World Bank uses to count people in extreme poverty worldwide. It is expressed in international dollars, which adjust for differences in prices between countries so that a dollar buys a comparable basket of goods anywhere. The old line was $2.15 per day in 2017 international dollars. The new line is $3 per day in 2021 international dollars.
Why was it raised?
The $3 line is a 40 percent increase in real terms. Our World in Data explains that part of the change reflects inflation between the two price bases, because the World Bank switched to new 2021 purchasing power parities. The rest reflects the way the line is set: it is the median of the national poverty lines of low-income countries, and several of those countries recently raised their own lines, which pushed the international line up. A rise in the line therefore reflects higher national standards, not a decision to move the goalposts for its own sake. That last sentence is our own summary of the method.
How many people are in extreme poverty now?
For 2024, the World Bank data show 817 million people living on less than $3 per day. Under the old $2.15 line, the count was 692 million. The difference is about 125 million people, which is a result of the new line and not of new hardship. Our World in Data notes that nine out of ten people today fall above this definition of extreme poverty, which implies that roughly 10 percent of people are below it.
Why is the comparison tricky?
Two counts based on different lines are not comparable as a trend. When news reports said that millions more people were in extreme poverty, they were comparing the new line with the old one. The fair comparison uses the new line for every year. Under that consistent series, extreme poverty fell from roughly one in two or three people in 1990 to about one in ten. Our World in Data describes that as the long-run change, with the caution that the pace has slowed.
What about India?
A new household survey for 2022 to 2023, with an improved method, raised measured incomes in India across the whole series. The source does not give a figure for how this changed India’s poverty count, so we do not estimate one. The point for readers is that survey improvements can change numbers for reasons unrelated to real-world conditions. See our entry on India for background.
Is the 2030 goal within reach?
Our World in Data says progress has stalled and that the world is very clearly on track to fail to end extreme poverty by 2030. The goal belongs to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. A separate summary in the UN’s 2026 SDG report key messages also states that one in ten people lives in extreme poverty. Two independent descriptions agree on the scale.
How does this relate to prices?
Purchasing power adjustments rely on price data. Our explainers on what inflation is and the consumer price index describe how price changes are measured, which is the same type of data that sits behind international dollar conversions. The link is a general one and is not drawn from the Our World in Data article.
Key numbers at a glance
- Old line: $2.15 per day (2017 international dollars)
- New line: $3 per day (2021 international dollars), a 40 percent real increase
- People below $3 per day in 2024: 817 million
- People below $2.15 per day in 2024: 692 million
- Difference: about 125 million
What changed and what did not
Nobody’s income changed on the day the line moved. What changed was the threshold used to count people. The old and new lines also use different price bases, 2017 and 2021, so the two numbers cannot be compared dollar for dollar. Our World in Data presents the shift as a change in measurement and not as new information about living conditions.
Why do national poverty lines feed into the international one?
The international line is set at the median of the national poverty lines of low-income countries. When several of those countries raise their own lines, the median rises. This design ties the global standard to what low-income countries themselves consider the minimum, instead of an outside figure. It also means the line will move again when national lines change, so future updates are possible.
Glossary: terms used here
- Extreme poverty: living below the international poverty line
- International dollar: a hypothetical currency with the same purchasing power as the U.S. dollar in a given base year
- Purchasing power parity (PPP): an exchange rate that equalizes the price of a basket of goods across countries
- Median: the middle value when numbers are sorted, so half of the lines are higher and half are lower
These definitions are general ones and are not quoted from the Our World in Data article.
Is poverty still falling?
Over the long run, yes. The share of people in extreme poverty fell from roughly one in two or three in 1990 to about one in ten. In recent years, Our World in Data reports that progress has stalled. The two statements do not conflict: a long decline can be followed by a plateau, and the plateau is what the 2030 goal now has to overcome.
Frequently asked questions
What is the new extreme poverty line?
$3 per day in 2021 international dollars, announced by the World Bank in June 2025.
Did poverty rise when the line changed?
No. The count rose because the threshold rose, not because incomes fell.
Why is the count 817 million and not 692 million?
The first number uses the new $3 line and the second uses the old $2.15 line. Both are for 2024.
Is the line likely to change again?
It can. The line is tied to the median of low-income countries’ national lines, so it moves when those lines move.
How many people live below the line?
817 million in 2024 under the new line.