This article contains a list of countries by percentage of the population living below poverty line and a list of countries by population living under $2 a day and $1 a day. Only countries for which data is available are listed.

List of countries by percentage of the population living below the national poverty line

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National estimates of the percentage of the population falling below the poverty line are based on surveys of sub-groups, with the results weighted by the number of people in each group. Definitions of the poverty line vary considerably among nations. For example, rich nations generally employ more generous standards of poverty than poor nations.

Country	Population living below national poverty line (%)	Year
Gaza Strip	81	2004 est.*
Liberia	80	*
Moldova	80	2001 est.*
Zambia	72.9 / 86*	1993*
Madagascar	71.3 / 50*	2004 est.*
Angola	70	2003 est.*
Suriname	70	2002 est.*
Mozambique	69.4 / 70*	2001 est.*
Burundi	68	2002 est.*
Sierra Leone	68
Malawi	65.3 / 55*	2004 est.*
Haiti	65 / 80*	2003 est.*
Chad	64 / 80*	2001 est.*
Colombia	64 / 49.2*	2005*
Gambia	64
Mali	63.8 / 64*	2001 est.*
Niger	63
Bolivia	62.7 / 64*	2004 est.*
Comoros	60	2002 est.*
Tajikistan	64	2004 est.*
Turkmenistan	58	2003 est.*
Guatemala	56.2 / 75*	2004 est.*
Uganda	55 / 35*	2001 est.*
Georgia	54	2001 est.*
São Tomé and Príncipe	54	2004 est.*
Afghanistan	53	2003*
Eritrea	53 / 50*	2004 est.*
Honduras	53
Rwanda	51.2 / 60*	2001 est.*
Vietnam	50.9 / 19.5*	2004 est.*
Namibia	50	2002 est.*
South Africa	50	2000 est.*
Bangladesh	49.8 / 45*	2004 est.*
Lesotho	49.2 / 49*	1999*
Azerbaijan	49	2002 est.*
Peru	49 / 54*	2003 est.*
Guinea-Bissau	48.7
El Salvador	48.3 / 34.6*	2004 est.*
Nicaragua	47.9 / 50*	2001 est.*
Mauritania	46.3 / 40*	2004 est.*
West Bank	46% including Gaza Strip	2004 est.*
Burkina Faso	45.3 / 45*	2003 est.*
Djibouti	45.1 / 50*	2001 est.*
Ethiopia	44.2 / 50*	2004 est.*
Armenia	43	2003 est.*
East Timor	42	2003 est.*
Kenya	42 / 50*	2000 est.*
Nepal	42 / 31*	2003-2004*
Yemen	41.8 / 45.2*	2003*
Cameroon	40.2 / 48*	2000 est.*
Guinea	40
Iran	40	2002 est.*
Kyrgyzstan	40	2004 est.*
Sudan	40	2004 est.*
Swaziland	40 / 69*	2005*
Ghana	39.5 / 31.4*	1992 est.*
Laos	38.6 / 40*	2002 est.*
Argentina	38.5	June 2005*
Papua New Guinea	37.5 / 37*	2002 est.*
Panama	37.3 / 37*	1999 est.*
Côte d'Ivoire	36.8 / 37*	1995*
Philippines	36.8 / 40*	2001 est.*
Mongolia	36.3 / 36.1*	2004 est.*
Cambodia	36.1 / 40*	2004 est.*
Tanzania	35.7 / 36*	2002 est.*
Ecuador	35 / 52*	2006*
Guyana	35
Zimbabwe	34.9 / 80*	2004 est.*
Nigeria	34.1 / 60*	2000 est.*
Senegal	33.4 / 54*	2001 est.*
Belize	33	1999 est.*
Benin	33
Pakistan	32.6 / 32*	Fiscal year 2000-01 est.*
Togo	32.3 / 32*	1989 est.*
Grenada	32	2000*
Venezuela	31.3 / 47*	1998 est.*
Botswana	30.3	2003*
Cape Verde	30	2000*
Dominica	30	2002 est.*
Serbia and Montenegro	30	1999 est.*
Macedonia	29.6	2004 est.*
Ukraine	29	2003 est.*
Dominican Republic	28.6 / 25*
India	28.6 / 25*	2002 est.*
Lebanon	28	1999 est.*
Uzbekistan	28	2004 est.*
Belarus	27.1	2003 est.*
Indonesia	27.1
Federated States of Micronesia	26.7	*
Fiji	25.5	1990-91*
Albania	25	2004 est.*
Bosnia and Herzegovina	25	2004 est.*
Burma	25	2000 est.*
Romania	25	2005 est.*
Sri Lanka	25 / 22*	1997 est.*
Anguilla	23	2002*
Guam	23	2001 est.*
Costa Rica	22 / 18*	2004 est.*
Uruguay	22% of households	2004*
Paraguay	21.8 / 32*	2005 est.*
Israel	21	2005*
Trinidad and Tobago	21
Syria	20	2004 est.*
Turkey	20	2002*
Bermuda	19	2000*
Morocco	19
Kazakhstan	19	2004 est.*
Jamaica	18.7 / 19.1*	2003 est.*
Russia	17.8	2004 est.*
Brazil	17.4 / 22*	1998 est.*
Chile	17 / 18.2*	2005*
Poland	17	2003 est.*
United Kingdom	17	2002 est.*
Egypt	16.7 / 20*	2005 est.*
Canada	15.9	2003*1
Malaysia	15.5 / 8*	1998 est.*
South Korea	15	2003 est.*
Bulgaria	13.4	2002 est.*
Thailand	13.1 / 10*	2004 est.*
Algeria	12.2 / 25*	2005 est.*
United States	12	2004 est.*
Jordan	11.7 / 30*	2001 est.*
Croatia	11	2003*
Mexico	10.1 / 40*	2003 est.*
Ireland	10	1997 est.*
Mauritius	10	2001 est.*
The Bahamas	9.3	2004*
Hungary	8.6	1993 est.*
Tunisia	7.6 / 7.4*	2005 est.*
France	6.5	2000*
Austria	5.9	2004*
People's Republic of China	4.6 / 10*	2001 est.*
Belgium	4	1989 est.*
Republic of China (Taiwan)	0.9	2005*

¹ This figure is the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO), a calculation that results in higher figures than found in many comparable economies; Canada does not have an official poverty line.

List by population living under $2 a day and $1 a day

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Data refer to the most recent year available during the period 1990-2003.

Country	Population living under $2 a day (%)	Population living under $1 a day (%)
Nigeria	90.8	70.2
Mali	90.6	72.3
Burundi	89.2	58.4
Zambia	87.4	63.7
Niger	85.3	61.4
Madagascar	85.1	61
Central African Republic	84	66.6
Rwanda	83.7	51.7
Zimbabwe	83	56.1
Gambia	82.9	59.3
Bangladesh	82.8	36
Nepal	82.5	37.7
Burkina Faso	81	44.9
Ethiopia	80.7	26.3
Nicaragua	79.9	45.1
India	79.9	34.7
Ghana	78.5	44.8
Mozambique	78.4	37.9
Cambodia	77.7	34.1
Malawi	76.1	41.7
Mongolia	74.9	27
Sierra Leone	74.5	57
Laos	73.2	26.3
Senegal	67.8	26.3
Pakistan	65.6	13.4
Mauritania	63.1	25.9
Tanzania	59.7	19.9
Kenya	58.3	22.8
El Salvador	58	31.1
Lesotho	56.1	36.4
Namibia	55.8	34.9
Indonesia	52.4	7.5
Sri Lanka	50.7	7.6
Cameroon	50.6	17.1
Botswana	50.1	23.5
People's Republic of China	46.7	16.6
Philippines	46.4	14.6
Yemen	45.2	15.7
Honduras	44	20.7
Egypt	43.9	3.1
Ecuador	40.8	17.7
Trinidad and Tobago	39	12.4
Côte d'Ivoire	38.4	10.8
Peru	37.7	18.1
Guatemala	37.4	16
Bolivia	34.3	14.4
South Africa	34.1	10.7
Paraguay	33.2	16.4
Thailand	32.5	<2
Venezuela	32	15
Mexico	26.3	9.9
Colombia	22.6	8.2
Brazil	22.4	8.2
Panama	17.6	7.2
Algeria	15.1	<2
Argentina	14.3	3.3
Morocco	14.3	<2
Jamaica	13.3	<2
Turkey	10.3	<2
Chile	9.6	<2
Costa Rica	9.5	2
Malaysia	9.3	<2
Jordan	7.4	<2
Iran	7.3	<2
Tunisia	6.6	<2
Uruguay	3.9	<2
Dominican Republic	<2	<2
South Korea	<2	<2

References

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All values from the 2005 United Nations Human Development Report data followed by an asterisk (*) provided by the CIA World Factbook [http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2046.html, accessed May 21 2006

Poverty | Economics lists | Lists of countries | Socioeconomics

Lista de países por porcentajes de población debajo de la línea de pobreza