In June 2025, the World Bank updated the global poverty lines and revised its estimates for the amount of people living in poverty at country, regional and global levels.

The update takes account of the latest household data across lower- and middle-income countries and reflects the increasing costs of basic goods and services for people in those countries.

The poverty line is the minimum amount of money a person needs each day to meet their basic needs, and is the global benchmark to measure poverty.

The global poverty lines have been revised from $2.15 to $3.00 for the extreme poverty line, from $3.65 to $4.20 for the moderate poverty line, and from $6.85 to $8.30 for the poverty line typical of upper-middle-income countries.

The increase to the poverty lines reflects the increasing costs for people living in poverty to meet their basic needs.

The number of people living under the moderate poverty line of $4.20 a day globally has fallen – from 1,783 million to 1,603 million. This is the poverty line that Opportunity International Australia typically refers to.

This is a reduction of 180 million people living under the $4.20 a day poverty line.

The good news is that India has single-handedly lifted nearly 270 million people out of extreme poverty since 2011.

Without this significant improvement in India, the increase to the number of people living in extreme poverty globally, with the revised poverty line, would have been much higher.

This update, based on 2022 data from India, represents more than a decade of growth in the country – as the previous poverty rate was based on data last updated in 2011. Despite the significant improvements, India is still home to more people living in extreme poverty than any other country (75.2 million people).

“The decrease in the number of people living in poverty is hopeful, but also proves we have so much more work to do,” said Scott Walters, CEO of Opportunity International Australia.

“Opportunity’s main goal is poverty alleviation, and we will continue to strive towards that goal, with the support of our generous donors.”