“Some might assume that China is the only reason why global extreme poverty has declined. But that’s wrong: many countries have seen dramatic reductions in poverty, too. Indonesia is one clear example; it’s shown alongside China on the chart.

In 1984, 86% of Indonesians lived on less than $3 per day. By 2025, this had fallen to less than 4%. While it didn’t quite match China’s decline, it has still been impressive.”

From Our World in Data.

“Nepal has more than halved its multidimensional poverty over the past decade, with the proportion of people experiencing overlapping deprivations in health, education and living standards falling to 13.9% in 2024/25 from 30.1% in 2014, according to the latest Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).

The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2026: Statistical Update identifies Nepal as one of 33 countries that have reduced their MPI values by at least half in fewer than 15 years, marking significant progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Nepal’s MPI value declined from 0.133 in 2014 to 0.056 in 2024/25, a reduction of nearly 58%. During the same period, the incidence of multidimensional poverty fell by 16.2 percentage points, while the estimated number of people living in such poverty declined from 8.32 million to 4.11 million.

The report highlights Nepal’s progress as particularly significant because the country recorded a sustained decline in multidimensional poverty across four consecutive periods spanning 10.5 years…

The improvement has continued in recent years. Between 2022 and 2024/25, the proportion of multidimensionally poor people declined from 16.4% to 13.9%, while the MPI value fell from 0.068 to 0.056.”

From New Business Age.

“This report highlights Uzbekistan’s remarkable progress in reducing poverty and expanding the middle class between 2021 and 2025. Strong growth in household consumption, rising wage employment, and pro-poor income gains reduced the national poverty rate from 17.0 percent to 5.8 percent, lifting approximately 3.7 million people out of poverty. The middle-class share more than doubled, reaching over 72 percent of the population.”

From World Bank.

“The Philippines has cut its official poverty rate to below 10 per cent for the first time, a milestone officials hailed as proof that millions of Filipinos are climbing the economic ladder…

The Philippine Statistics Authority said poverty incidence fell to 9.7 per cent in 2025 – or about 11 million people – down from 15.5 per cent, or 17.5 million, in 2023. It marked the first time the national individual poverty rate had fallen into single digits.

Meanwhile, the percentage of families living in poverty also dropped from 10.9 per cent to 6.4 per cent over the same period.

The milestone comes a month after the World Bank reclassified the Philippines as an upper-middle-income country, after its gross national income reached US$4,850 per capita – above the bank’s US$4,636 threshold.”

From South China Morning Post.