POVERTY

An estimated 767 million people are living in extreme poverty - living at or below $1.90 (PPP*) a day.

The number of people living on less than $3.10 a day (PPP*) is 2.1 billion, according to the latest available figures.

From: Worldbank poverty statistics

The international poverty line for extreme poverty is $1.90 a day 2011 PPP and the 'median' poverty line is $3.10 a day 2011 PPP. What does this mean?

PPP stands for "Purchasing Power Parity"; $1.90 2011 PPP is the purchasing power of $1.90 in the U.S. in 2011. Therefore, the one billion people living in extreme poverty have less purchasing power than what you could by for $1,90 in the U.S. in 2011.

This means that the actual income in terms of nominal exchange rates of these extremely poor people was actually much lower than $1.90 per day, because the purchasing power of a US dollar is much higher in developing countries than in the U.S. As every traveller knows, you can buy much more for one US dollar or one Euro in a developing country than in the US or Eruope itself.

Moreover, the poverty estimates not only include the money that people earn, but also what people produce for themselves. The total consumption of people is estimated through household surveys.

The international poverty line is an estimation of the absolute minimum that people need to live. About one out of every eight people lives below this poverty line of extreme poverty. And 30% of the world population is considered to be very poor, living on less than $3.10 a day (PPP).

HUNGER

The most recent estimates put the number of hungry people at 795 million.

From: World Food Programme Hunger Statistics

CHILD MORTALITY

Every year 5.9 million children die before the age of five. Under-nourishment is responsible for 45 percent of all under five deaths.

From: World Health Organisation Fact sheet N°178

PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLETION

Millions of children don't have access to primary education or don't complete primary school.

The number of children of primary school age who where out of school was 58 million in 2012; 8% of all children don't complete primary school.

From: Worldbank - Millennium Development Goals - Education

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Resources on poverty and hunger