Afghanistan, Oct. 18 -- The number of people living in acute multidimensional poverty worldwide has risen for the first time since the global index was launched in 2010, reaching nearly 1.2 billion, according to a 2026 report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).
The report, released on October 12, found that the total increased by 51.5 million compared with the previous update on a like-for-like basis. Nearly 952 million people are also vulnerable to multidimensional poverty. More than half of those living in poverty, about 617 million people, or 51.5 percent are children under 18, while 83 percent of the global total live in rural areas. The index measures overl...