World Bank Group · Poverty Headcount Ratio at $4.20 a Day
Poverty ($4.20 a day) by country
What share of people live on less than $4.20 a day?
Of the 60 countries compared in 2023, 2 countries shared the lowest reading, 0.02%, and Uganda had the highest reading, 72.30%. In the middle country the figure was 1.34%. Among the 24 countries measured in every edition since 2002, the middle one moved from 6.78% to 0.98%.
Share
Poverty ($4.20 a day) · 2023
Context statistic
2 countries share the lowest value, 0.02% — no single country is named first.
012023 · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the lowest end of 60 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
Lowest in 2023 · shared
2 countries share the lowest reading, 0.02%
No single country is named first: picking one from a shared value would be a choice the data does not make.
02Every measured country
Poverty ($4.20 a day) on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a lower value — the better end.
- 11.70–72.30%
- 3.37–9.96%
- 0.88–3.11%
- 0.36–0.84%
- 0.02–0.24%
- No reading in 2023 (109 measured in an earlier edition)
- Europe
0.58%
the middle country, of 28 measured · 49 members
Slovenia0.02%
Serbia2.06%Lowest and highest reading in Europe.
- Americas
7.20%
the middle country, of 15 measured · 48 members
Uruguay0.75%
Honduras26.61%Lowest and highest reading in Americas.
- Asia
7.98%
the middle country, of 14 measured · 52 members
Cyprus0.02%
Indonesia21.94%Lowest and highest reading in Asia.
- Africa
2 of 55 measured — too few for a middle: Rwanda, Uganda.
Rwanda62.21%
Uganda72.30%Lowest and highest reading in Africa.
- Oceania
1 of 21 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati.
Kiribati5.69%Lowest and highest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
14 sub-regions, lowest middle country first
- Western Europe
0.09%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 9 members
France0.08%
Austria0.58%Lowest and highest reading in Western Europe.
- Northern Europe
0.46%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 13 members
Ireland0.08%
Lithuania1.25%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Europe.
- Eastern Europe
0.78%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 10 members
Czechia0.05%
Bulgaria1.59%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Southern Europe
0.85%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 17 members
Slovenia0.02%Serbia2.06%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Europe.
- Western Asia
4.22%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 19 members
Cyprus0.02%
Georgia14.02%Lowest and highest reading in Western Asia.
- South America
6.62%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 12 members
Uruguay0.75%
Colombia15.20%Lowest and highest reading in South America.
- Central America
8.60%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 8 members
Costa Rica3.37%Honduras26.61%Lowest and highest reading in Central America.
- Caribbean
1 of 24 measured — too few for a middle: Dominican Republic.
Dominican Republic3.00%Lowest and highest reading in Caribbean.
- Central Asia
3 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
Uzbekistan7.27%
Tajikistan18.14%Lowest and highest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Africa
2 of 19 measured — too few for a middle: Rwanda, Uganda.
Rwanda62.21%Uganda72.30%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Micronesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati.
Kiribati5.69%Lowest and highest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern America
1 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: United States.
United States1.40%Lowest and highest reading in Northern America.
- South-eastern Asia
3 of 11 measured — too few for a middle: Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand.
Thailand0.14%Indonesia21.94%Lowest and highest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Southern Asia
2 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: India, Iran.
Iran7.53%
India16.12%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Asia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
60 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 1.34%; a quarter are above 7.75%, and a quarter below 0.53%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
Log scale: each gridline is ten times the one before, so countries of very different sizes can be seen on one line.
04All 169 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first — position 1 is the highest value, the way World Bank Group’s own tables read. “=” marks a position shared with another country. World Bank Group ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. A higher line is not a truer one: this, the $3.00 and the $8.30 lines measure three thresholds of the same distribution, and a country’s reading always sits between the other two. The country set changes every year — an absent country means an absent survey, not an absence of poverty.
Showing 25 of 169 countries
Values for 2023. The change column compares 2023 with 2022 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052002–2023 · 22 reference years
Over time
Each point is one reference year from 2002, from whichever household survey the country ran that year.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 24 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 60 | 1.34% | 0.53% – 7.75% | 0.98% |
| 2022 | 73 | 1.71% | 0.51% – 10.05% | 1.13% |
| 2021 | 82 | 1.93% | 0.36% – 11.40% | 0.95% |
| 2020 | 71 | 1.10% | 0.30% – 5.90% | 1.03% |
| 2019 | 79 | 1.38% | 0.34% – 9.67% | 1.23% |
| 2018 | 94 | 2.59% | 0.41% – 11.65% | 1.32% |
| 2017 | 79 | 1.59% | 0.40% – 8.24% | 1.66% |
| 2016 | 84 | 2.19% | 0.55% – 9.60% | 2.18% |
| 2015 | 87 | 3.04% | 0.70% – 13.52% | 2.14% |
| 2014 | 84 | 3.04% | 0.61% – 14.21% | 2.43% |
| 2013 | 78 | 2.02% | 0.39% – 11.04% | 2.46% |
| 2012 | 87 | 3.42% | 0.78% – 14.66% | 2.58% |
| 2011 | 82 | 2.28% | 0.73% – 15.36% | 2.44% |
| 2010 | 87 | 3.42% | 0.74% – 21.67% | 3.59% |
| 2009 | 83 | 4.33% | 0.75% – 23.56% | 4.24% |
| 2008 | 79 | 2.34% | 0.52% – 15.89% | 2.45% |
| 2007 | 73 | 2.84% | 0.60% – 18.92% | 1.96% |
| 2006 | 82 | 3.74% | 0.66% – 19.12% | 3.00% |
| 2005 | 81 | 9.42% | 1.04% – 32.78% | 5.18% |
| 2004 | 75 | 7.77% | 0.59% – 27.92% | 6.99% |
| 2003 | 69 | 12.93% | 1.20% – 39.69% | 6.19% |
| 2002 | 68 | 22.94% | 2.39% – 40.99% | 6.78% |
062022 → 2023
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions — reference years recalculated in one report, not two separate publications. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Improved most
before → after- India23.89% → 16.12% · 8th → 9th−7.77
Kyrgyzstan22.06% → 16.36% · 10th → 8th−5.70- Georgia17.84% → 14.02% · 14th → 11th−3.82
- Indonesia23.72% → 21.94% · 9th → 4th−1.78
Armenia10.05% → 8.42% · 19th → 15th−1.63
51 countries were measured in both 2022 and 2023. The field changed from 73 to 60 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Poverty ($4.20 a day) in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
97.79%
Population below $4.20 a day, 2021 PPP (%)
Lowest reading on record
Reached 19 times by 7 countries — shared, so no holder is named
0.00%
Population below $4.20 a day, 2021 PPP (%)
World Bank Group · 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021
Biggest improvement between editions
−24.44
34.06% → 9.62%
Biggest decline between editions
+14.02
4.59% → 18.61%
Most improved since first measured
−89.90
97.17% → 7.27%
At the top most often
6 of 22
editions, alone at the first-listed end
08The measure
About poverty ($4.20 a day)
This is the share of a country’s people living on less than $4.20 a day at 2021 purchasing power parities — the World Bank’s poverty line for lower-middle-income countries, between its $3.00 extreme-poverty line and its $8.30 upper-middle-income line.
What the number is: Population below $4.20 a day, 2021 PPP (%).
09Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Development & Human Capital and Poverty & Inequality, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Development & Human CapitalPoverty & InequalityWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where poverty ($4.20 a day) is higher, these tend to be higher too.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Moves against
Where poverty ($4.20 a day) is higher, these tend to be lower.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 0 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
10Keep reading
Explore further
More from World Bank Group
11Questions
Poverty ($4.20 a day): questions and answers
Which country has the lowest poverty ($4.20 a day)?
2 countries share the lowest reading, 0.02%, among the 60 compared in 2023, so no single country is named.
Which country has the highest poverty ($4.20 a day)?
Uganda, at 72.30%, among the 60 countries compared in 2023.
How many countries does the Poverty Headcount Ratio at $4.20 a Day cover?
60 in 2023, and 169 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 60 to 94 between editions.
What is the world average poverty ($4.20 a day)?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 60 compared in 2023, the figure was 1.34%.
Is this World Bank Group’s own ranking?
No. World Bank Group publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Poverty Headcount Ratio at $4.20 a Day published?
This site holds 22 reference years, 2002–2023, all recalculated in World Bank Group’s 2026 report on one method — not 22 separate publications.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From World Bank Group, under CC BY 4.0. Read from the World Bank’s Poverty and Inequality Platform, in its own request at the $4.20 line. The Bank’s indicator API carries no copy. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
12Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Poverty Headcount Ratio at $4.20 a Day — World Bank Group
Read from the World Bank’s Poverty and Inequality Platform, in its own request at the $4.20 line. The Bank’s indicator API carries no copy.
Newest edition
Report year 2023Data year 2023
Cite the source as: World Bank. Poverty and Inequality Platform. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-09-29.
How this page reads the numbers
- World Bank Group ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Poverty ($4.20 a day) by country: Poverty Headcount Ratio at $4.20 a Day, data from World Bank Group. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/poverty-headcount-420