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The Conversation
The Conversation
Jason Hickel, Professor at the Institute for Environmental Science and Technology, Autonomous University of Barcelona

Has extreme poverty really plunged since the 1980s? New analysis suggests not

oceanfishing/Shutterstock

Data from the World Bank suggests that extreme poverty has declined dramatically over the past four decades, from 47% of the world’s population in 1981 to around 10% today.

This narrative is based on the World Bank’s method of calculating the share of people who live on less than US$3 per day in 2021 prices. This is adjusted for general price differences between countries (what’s known as purchasing power parity, or PPP).

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