A chart showing the number of people living in extreme poverty by region from 1820 to 2018.

An area chart illustrating the historical trend of extreme poverty across different global regions from 1820 to 2018.

Number of people living in extreme poverty by region, 1820 to 2018 Extreme poverty is defined as living below the International Poverty Line of $1.90 per day. Data after 1981 relates to household income or expenditure surveys collated by the World Bank; before 1981 it is based on historical reconstructions of GDP per capita and inequality data. 2 billion 1.5 billion 1 billion 500 million 0 1820 1850 1900 1950 2000 2018 Our World in Data Sub-Saharan Africa (Moatsos) Western offshoots (Moatsos) Western Europe (Moatsos) Middle East and North Africa (Moatsos) Latin America and Caribbean (Moatsos) Eastern Europe and former USSR (Moatsos) East Asia (Moatsos) South and South-East Asia (Moatsos) Data source: Michalis Moatsos (2021) OurWorldInData.org/poverty | CC BY Note: Data is measured in international-$ at 2011 prices to account for inflation and differences in living costs between countries.