Where will the World’s Poor Live? Global Poverty Projections for 2020 and 2030

A ‘double bottom billion’ or 80 per cent of the world’s $2 poor (2 billion people) live in middle-income countries (MICs). In contrast there are 500 million $2 poor in low-income countries (LICs). Even with growth, world poverty is projected to remain split 50/50 between LICs and MICs until 2030. Given that some of today’s LICs will be MICs by then, it is possible that only a third of the world’s poor will be living in LICs in 2030.