Key Details
The 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index: Statistical Update measures poverty through health, education and living-standard deprivations across 108 countries. The figures below describe the population covered by this edition; countries’ underlying surveys were conducted in different years.
Measure | 2026 Finding |
|---|---|
People living in multidimensional poverty | 1.198 billion, or 18.9% of the 6.3 billion people covered |
Children living in multidimensional poverty | 617 million—51.5% of all poor people |
Rural share of poor people | 83.3%, or about 998 million |
Poor people in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia | 616 million and 393 million, respectively |
Countries with new survey estimates in this edition | 13; India is not among them |
India’s global MPI entry | 16.4% poverty incidence, based on a 2019–21 survey—the same rate and survey used in the 2025 edition |
A Higher Global Count Has More Than One Cause
The number of people recorded as multidimensionally poor rose from 1.148 billion in the 2025 tables to 1.198 billion in 2026. After accounting for a country included in 2025 but not 2026, the report puts the comparable increase at 51.5 million.
That increase cannot be read simply as 51.5 million people becoming poor over the past year. In 95 countries without new surveys, updated population figures alone added 15.8 million to the estimated count while their measured poverty rates stayed unchanged. The remainder reflects results from 13 countries with new surveys, alongside demographic changes and differences in indicator coverage between survey rounds. The direction varied: poverty incidence fell significantly in some countries, while Nigeria recorded an increase in its most recent survey period.
Children and Rural Areas Carry a Disproportionate Burden
More than half of all multidimensionally poor people are children, and nearly one in three children in the countries covered lives in multidimensional poverty. Roughly eight in ten poor people live in rural areas, where the poverty rate is 28.7%, compared with 7.0% in urban areas.
The report also shows why a single global count cannot describe every policy need. More than one billion poor people live in households that cook with solid fuels. In South Asia, nutrition, housing and years of schooling account for particularly large shares of global deprivation; 150 million poor people in the region live in households where a school-aged child is not attending school. Across 1,360 subnational regions covered by the index, 387 regions contain more than half of the world’s multidimensionally poor people, revealing concentrations that national averages can obscure.
India’s Global Figure Is Unchanged, but a Separate National Projection Goes Further
India’s global MPI poverty rate remains 16.4%, with an index value of 0.069. Both the 2025 and 2026 editions derive those figures from the 2019–21 survey. The 2026 report also traces a longer-term decline in India’s global poverty incidence, from 55.1% in 2005–06 to 16.4% in 2019–21. It does not provide a newly surveyed India poverty rate for 2026.
A separate NITI Aayog–UNDP discussion paper estimated that India’s national multidimensional poverty rate declined from 29.17% in 2013–14 to 11.28% in 2022–23, equivalent to approximately 24.82 crore people moving out of multidimensional poverty. Both endpoint rates were projections, not results from surveys conducted in those years. That estimate was not part of either edition’s global MPI India figure.
What Is Multidimensional Poverty?
The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) identifies people experiencing overlapping deprivations across 10 indicators of health, education and living standards, including nutrition, schooling, sanitation and housing. A person is counted as multidimensionally poor when their household’s weighted deprivations reach at least one-third of the index. India’s national MPI uses 12 indicators and serves a different measurement purpose; its rates should not be substituted for global MPI rates.
Policy Relevance
Read changes in global totals carefully. The 2026 increase combines new survey evidence with population updates. Assessing whether poverty itself is rising requires comparable surveys and country-level analysis, not a comparison of headline counts alone.
Target overlapping disadvantages. The concentration of poverty among children, rural residents and particular subnational regions makes national averages insufficient for deciding where services and resources are most needed.
Keep India’s two evidence streams distinct. The national projection suggests continued progress after 2019–21, while the global MPI still lacks a newer surveyed India estimate. Updated household survey evidence is needed to establish India’s more recent position on a comparable basis.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: Which newer survey evidence is needed to measure India’s progress since 2019–21, and how can national and global MPI findings be used together without treating their different rates as interchangeable?
Follow the Full Report Here: 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index: Statistical Update
India Context: NITI Aayog–UNDP, Multidimensional Poverty in India Since 2005–06.