Millions Lack Basic Services Despite Income Gains, Says 2025 World Bank Poverty Study

The World Bank Multidimensional Poverty Measure update shows that while global monetary poverty has declined, millions—especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia—still face severe deprivations in sanitation, electricity, and education. The report stresses that closing these gaps requires targeted service investments and better, timely data.

The 2025 edition of the World Bank’s Multidimensional Poverty Measure (MPM), prepared by the Development Data Group, the Development Research Group, and the Poverty and Equity Global Department, represents the ninth update of this vital global dataset. This edition expands coverage to 120 economies, up from 110 in October 2024, and integrates the latest Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) from the International Comparison Program. The MPM goes beyond simple income-based measures of poverty, offering a nuanced picture of deprivation across three equally weighted dimensions: monetary well-being, education, and access to basic infrastructure. Within these dimensions, six indicators examine whether households live below the international poverty line of $3.00 per person per day (in 2021 PPP), have children out of primary school or lack basic educational attainment, and whether they are deprived of safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, or electricity. A household is considered multidimensionally poor if its weighted deprivation score reaches at least one-third of the index, meaning it suffers in one full dimension or an equivalent combination of indicators. Because the monetary dimension consists of a single indicator, anyone below the income threshold is automatically classified as multidimensionally poor.

Methodology and Data Sources

The MPM relies on harmonized household survey data from the World Bank’s Global Monitoring Database (GMD), which compiles multi-topic income and expenditure surveys collected by national statistical offices and standardizes them for cross-country comparability. This edition uses data gathered between 2018 and 2024, centered on circa 2021. While the GMD emphasizes comparability, the MPM focuses on access to services rather than their quality, acknowledging the challenges of measuring quality consistently across nations. Comparisons over time require caution, as the list of included countries changes with each update. A significant methodological shift followed the COVID-19 pandemic: only surveys from 2020 onward count toward the 50 percent population coverage threshold required for publishing global or regional estimates. This change sharply reduced coverage, with the current edition representing only 42.8 percent of the world’s population. Data gaps are especially pronounced in populous nations such as India and China, which have monetary poverty figures but no recent non-monetary data for full MPM calculations.

Regional Patterns and Persistent Gaps

Sub-Saharan Africa remains the most severely affected region, with 59.1 percent of its population living in multidimensional poverty and a monetary poverty rate of 47 percent. Here, deficits are most acute in sanitation, electricity, and education. 49.6 percent of the population lacks electricity, 64.1 percent lacks adequate sanitation, and 27.5 percent have not completed basic schooling. In South Asia, the MPM rate of 16.4 percent significantly exceeds the monetary poverty rate of 11.7 percent, highlighting deep sanitation and education gaps, including school enrollment shortfalls. Globally, inadequate sanitation is the most widespread deprivation, affecting 23.6 percent of people, followed by lack of electricity (12.3 percent) and low educational attainment (10.5 percent). By contrast, Europe and Central Asia record the lowest MPM rate at just 2.7 percent, with only minor deficits in infrastructure and schooling. Latin America and the Caribbean post 5.3 percent, while the Middle East and North Africa report 5.2 percent.

Impact of New Poverty Lines and Data Revisions

The 2025 update incorporates not just new survey data but also revised poverty lines based on 2021 PPPs, raising thresholds from the 2017 PPP-based $2.15, $3.65, and $6.85 lines to $3.00, $4.20, and $8.30, respectively. This adjustment has contributed to upward revisions in measured poverty rates, independent of actual changes in living conditions. Comparing the October 2024 and June 2025 vintages, both expressed in constant 2017 PPPs, shows that for regions with good coverage, such as the Middle East and North Africa, the new results largely confirm earlier estimates despite the higher thresholds. Globally, the MPM rose from 13.4 percent to 14.9 percent, while Sub-Saharan Africa increased from 52.6 percent to 54.7 percent, partly due to improved survey coverage. East Asia and the Pacific’s rate remained at 2.7 percent, and South Asia’s held at 11.2 percent across both vintages.

Country-Level Insights from the Poverty Dashboard

The World Bank’s interactive Multidimensional Poverty Dashboard now allows users to explore both current and historical MPM data for 154 countries and adjust indicator weights for customized analysis. The disparities revealed are stark. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 87.9 percent of people are multidimensionally poor, closely followed by Mozambique (85.9 percent) and Burundi (84.2 percent). In Chad, the rate stands at 81.95 percent, and in Malawi, it records 80.96 percent. Within Sub-Saharan Africa, differences are evident: Zambia’s rate is 72.73 percent, Ethiopia’s 67.14 percent, and Angola’s 51.49 percent. These figures are complemented by additional measures, such as adjusted headcount and distribution-sensitive indexes, which consider both the intensity and inequality of deprivations.

A Call for Broader, Timely, and Targeted Action

The update reinforces a sobering reality: while monetary poverty has declined in many regions, millions remain trapped in broader deprivations that economic growth alone will not solve. The persistence of high multidimensional poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia underscores the need for targeted investments in sanitation, electricity, and quality education, alongside income-boosting measures. The report also highlights a pressing data challenge: without timely and comprehensive surveys that capture non-monetary dimensions, the global understanding of poverty will remain incomplete. Policymakers, development partners, and researchers must collaborate to close both the service and information gaps, ensuring that progress toward inclusive, sustainable development can be accurately measured and effectively advanced.