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World Bank Group · Societal Poverty Rate
Societal poverty rate by country
How many people are poor by the standards of their own country?
Of the 60 countries compared in 2023, Slovenia had the lowest reading, 7.00%, and Uganda had the highest reading, 54.36%. In the middle country the figure was 17.20%. Among the 24 countries measured in every edition since 2002, the middle one moved from 22.22% to 16.06%.
Part ofPoverty & Inequality
Societal poverty rate · 2023
Context statistic
Lowest of 60Slovenia
7.00%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.
1Photo: Z.K. derivative work: Jjtkk · CC BY 3.0, greyscale
2Photo: User:Aconcagua · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
3Photo: john mcsporran from Trossachs, Scotland · CC BY 2.0, greyscale
02Every measured country
Societal poverty rate 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.
- 24.92–54.36%
- 20.55–24.75%
- 15.85–19.90%
- 12.17–15.37%
- 7.00–12.15%
- No reading in 2023 (109 measured in an earlier edition)
- Europe
12.54%
the middle country, of 28 measured · 49 members
Slovenia7.00%
Serbia17.82%Lowest and highest reading in Europe.
- Asia
20.56%
the middle country, of 14 measured · 52 members
Cyprus8.69%
Tajikistan26.19%Lowest and highest reading in Asia.
- Americas
24.92%
the middle country, of 15 measured · 48 members
United States19.90%
Honduras32.64%Lowest and highest reading in Americas.
- Africa
2 of 55 measured — too few for a middle: Rwanda, Uganda.
Rwanda39.92%
Uganda54.36%Lowest and highest reading in Africa.
- Oceania
1 of 21 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati.
Kiribati15.85%Lowest and highest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
14 sub-regions, lowest middle country first
- Northern Europe
9.52%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 13 members
Denmark7.38%
Lithuania15.05%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Europe.
- Eastern Europe
12.15%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 10 members
Czechia8.35%
Romania17.47%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Western Europe
12.73%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 9 members
Belgium9.46%
Luxembourg14.99%Lowest and highest reading in Western Europe.
- Southern Europe
14.92%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 17 members
Slovenia7.00%Serbia17.82%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Europe.
- Western Asia
18.74%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 19 members
Cyprus8.69%
Georgia24.56%Lowest and highest reading in Western Asia.
- South America
25.42%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 12 members
Uruguay21.18%
Colombia29.93%Lowest and highest reading in South America.
- Central America
26.12%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 8 members
El Salvador23.61%Honduras32.64%Lowest and highest reading in Central America.
- Caribbean
1 of 24 measured — too few for a middle: Dominican Republic.
Dominican Republic20.61%Lowest and highest reading in Caribbean.
- Central Asia
3 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
Kyrgyzstan20.55%Tajikistan26.19%Lowest and highest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Africa
2 of 19 measured — too few for a middle: Rwanda, Uganda.
Rwanda39.92%Uganda54.36%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Micronesia
1 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati.
Kiribati15.85%Lowest and highest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern America
1 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: United States.
United States19.90%Lowest and highest reading in Northern America.
- South-eastern Asia
3 of 11 measured — too few for a middle: Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand.
Thailand15.86%
Philippines25.34%Lowest and highest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Southern Asia
2 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: India, Iran.
India17.35%
Iran21.81%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 17.20%; a quarter are above 23.82%, and a quarter below 12.64%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
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. Because the line moves with the median, this rate does not fall to zero as a country grows richer — a high-income country can hold a sizeable share, and that is the measure working, not an error. The country set changes every year: a country missing from an edition did not run a survey.
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, measured against that year’s own societal poverty line — which moves with the median, so a flat line can mean incomes at the bottom kept pace with the middle.
- 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 | 17.20% | 12.64% – 23.82% | 16.06% |
| 2022 | 73 | 19.69% | 13.48% – 24.21% | 16.37% |
| 2021 | 82 | 17.97% | 12.73% – 26.57% | 16.63% |
| 2020 | 71 | 15.92% | 11.29% – 23.13% | 16.57% |
| 2019 | 79 | 17.50% | 11.37% – 23.36% | 16.98% |
| 2018 | 94 | 20.02% | 12.50% – 26.58% | 17.13% |
| 2017 | 79 | 18.39% | 11.81% – 24.33% | 18.20% |
| 2016 | 84 | 19.16% | 12.27% – 25.44% | 18.90% |
| 2015 | 87 | 20.15% | 13.09% – 26.92% | 18.78% |
| 2014 | 84 | 19.98% | 12.34% – 27.06% | 18.43% |
| 2013 | 78 | 19.58% | 13.23% – 26.71% | 18.42% |
| 2012 | 87 | 21.04% | 13.68% – 27.90% | 19.23% |
| 2011 | 82 | 18.98% | 13.79% – 28.02% | 19.09% |
| 2010 | 87 | 19.73% | 13.52% – 29.02% | 19.91% |
| 2009 | 83 | 20.58% | 13.86% – 29.74% | 19.78% |
| 2008 | 79 | 17.66% | 12.58% – 29.53% | 19.48% |
| 2007 | 73 | 19.70% | 12.54% – 30.33% | 20.26% |
| 2006 | 82 | 22.14% | 14.21% – 28.98% | 20.65% |
| 2005 | 81 | 25.11% | 14.57% – 33.05% | 21.08% |
| 2004 | 75 | 22.62% | 13.68% – 33.25% | 22.90% |
| 2003 | 69 | 24.60% | 15.58% – 34.52% | 21.40% |
| 2002 | 68 | 28.61% | 19.59% – 36.19% | 22.22% |
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- India21.29% → 17.35% · 30th → 30th−3.94
- Romania20.37% → 17.47% · 34th → 29th−2.90
- Kyrgyzstan22.64% → 20.55% · 26th → 24th−2.09
Armenia19.94% → 17.86% · 36th → 27th−2.08
Slovakia14.06% → 12.15% · 52nd → 49th−1.91
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
Societal poverty rate in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
94.89%
Population below the societal poverty line, 2021 PPP (%)
Lowest reading on record
5.92%
Population below the societal poverty line, 2021 PPP (%)
Biggest improvement between editions
−18.85
56.64% → 37.79%
Biggest decline between editions
+13.86
16.50% → 30.36%
Most improved since first measured
−72.52
93.10% → 20.58%
At the top most often
10 of 22
editions, alone at the first-listed end
08The measure
About societal poverty rate
The societal poverty rate is the share of people who are poor by the standards of their own country. Its line is the higher of $3.00 a day and $1.30 plus half the country’s median income or consumption, so it rises as a country gets richer — the World Bank’s measure of poverty that counts relative as well as absolute need.
What the number is: Population below the societal poverty line, 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 Poverty & Inequality, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Moves with
Where societal poverty rate is higher, these tend to be higher too.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Moves against
Where societal poverty rate 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
The subject
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- All statistics
11Questions
Societal poverty rate: questions and answers
Which country has the lowest societal poverty rate?
Slovenia, at 7.00%, among the 60 countries compared in 2023.
Which country has the highest societal poverty rate?
Uganda, at 54.36%, among the 60 countries compared in 2023.
How many countries does the Societal Poverty Rate 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 societal poverty rate?
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 17.20%.
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 Societal Poverty Rate 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 rather than its indicator API, which rounds the rate to one decimal. The line each country was measured against is stored beside the rate. Years outside 2002–2023 fall below 60 countries and are not imported. 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
Societal Poverty Rate — World Bank Group
Read from the World Bank’s Poverty and Inequality Platform rather than its indicator API, which rounds the rate to one decimal. The line each country was measured against is stored beside the rate. Years outside 2002–2023 fall below 60 countries and are not imported.
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 2026-09-26.
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.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Slovenia — Z.K. derivative work: Jjtkk, CC BY 3.0
- Denmark — User:Aconcagua, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Czechia — john mcsporran from Trossachs, Scotland, CC BY 2.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Societal poverty rate by country: Societal Poverty Rate, data from World Bank Group. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/societal-poverty-rate