End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Poverty is not simply the absence of income — it is the compounding denial of choices, security and dignity. When world leaders adopted the 2030 Agenda in September 2015, they committed to end poverty in all its forms everywhere, recognising that no other goal can be met while hundreds of millions of people remain trapped below even the most basic threshold of subsistence.
Figures from The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2026, UN DESA/UN Statistics Division.
Ending poverty requires more than raising incomes. It depends on decent work that pays a living wage (SDG 8), social protection systems that catch people when shocks hit, and a narrowing of the inequalities that concentrate deprivation among particular groups and places (SDG 10) — inequalities that also shape who gets access to health care and education in the first place (SDG 3).
Poverty today is increasingly a geography of fragility. An overwhelming and growing share of the world’s extreme poor live in countries affected by conflict, weak institutions or climate shocks, not simply low national income. Ending poverty (SDG 1) is therefore bound tightly to building the peaceful, capable institutions that can sustain progress (SDG 16).
Progress on SDG 1 remains far off track. In 2026, an estimated 826 million people — 10 per cent of the world’s population — live in extreme poverty on less than $3.00 a day (2021 PPP), a decline of only 3 percentage points since 2015. Extreme poverty is projected to fall only to around 9 per cent by 2030, with four in five of the remaining poor concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa or in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Sub-Saharan Africa, where extreme poverty rose 2 percentage points during the COVID-19 pandemic and only returned to pre-pandemic levels in 2025, now accounts for 71 per cent of the world’s extreme poor.
Social protection coverage has improved: 52.4 per cent of the global population received at least one benefit in 2023, up from 42.8 per cent in 2015 and, for the first time, covering more than half of humanity — yet 3.8 billion people remain unprotected, and coverage ranges from 79.6 per cent among older persons to just 16.7 per cent among the unemployed. Working poverty has also eased, with 7.9 per cent of employed people (284 million workers) living in extreme poverty in 2025, down from 11 per cent in 2015.
Financing has moved the wrong way, however: official development assistance grants targeting poverty reduction fell 8.7 per cent between 2023 and 2024, erasing a decade of progress and returning aid levels to where they stood in 2015. The full picture of official indicators is tracked by the UN Statistics Division in its annual SDG progress report.
The primary tracking reports for SDG 1 are the World Bank’s Poverty, Prosperity and Planet Report, which produces the headline global extreme-poverty estimates, and the ILO’s World Social Protection Report, published every two to three years, which tracks coverage gaps by scheme, group and region. The current World Social Protection Report 2024–26 documents the wide gap between coverage for older persons and for the unemployed.
The primary intergovernmental forum is the Commission for Social Development (CSocD), which meets each February in New York. CSocD64, held 2–10 February 2026, served as the first global follow-up milestone after the Second World Summit for Social Development, held in Doha in November 2025, where governments renewed commitments on poverty eradication, universal social protection floors and decent work. SDG 1 progress is also reviewed annually at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) each July in New York.
These organisations hold the lead mandates on poverty measurement, social protection and the intergovernmental follow-up process under SDG 1.
By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day
Proportion of the population living below the international poverty line by sex, age, employment status and geographic location (urban/rural)
By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age
Proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable
Proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems, by sex, distinguishing children, unemployed persons, older persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, newborns, work-injury victims and the poor and the vulnerable
By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance
Proportion of population living in households with access to basic services
Proportion of total adult population with secure tenure rights to land, (a) with legally recognized documentation, and (b) who perceive their rights to land as secure, by sex and type of tenure
By 2030, build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters
Number of deaths, missing persons and directly affected persons attributed to disasters per 100,000 population
Direct economic loss attributed to disasters in relation to global gross domestic product (GDP)
Number of countries that adopt and implement national disaster risk reduction strategies in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030
Proportion of local governments that adopt and implement local disaster risk reduction strategies in line with national disaster risk reduction strategies
Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions
Total official development assistance grants from all donors that focus on poverty reduction as a share of the recipient country’s gross national income
Proportion of total government spending on essential services (education, health and social protection)
1.b Create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions
Pro-poor public social spending
Cities — Global
Across much of the Global South, formal housing markets fail to reach the people most in need of affordable homes. Recognizing incremental, community-driven housing systems is essential for achieving inclusive, climate-resilient cities
Financing — Global
Inequality is undermining progress across the SDGs, distorting economies, politics, and societies alike. Tackling it will require structural economic transformation, political will, and stronger global coordination
Climate — Global
Historically, natural disasters have taken a far heavier toll in poorer nations than in richer ones. Can advances in artificial intelligence help close that gap – providing earlier warnings and faster, more effective responses?
Peace and security — Global
Achieving the SDGs in fragile, violent, and/or corrupt states represents a daunting challenge – but not an impossible one. Success calls for a tailored, multi-pronged approach that addresses the fundamental interplay between poverty and conflict
Data and monitoring — Global
For decades, vulnerable nations have sought a more accurate and impactful means to evaluate their need for global assistance. Can the new Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) live up to its promise and more effectively help these countries prepare for risks and threats?
Global governance — Global
Indifference and hostility have created a leadership vacuum in development. But as practitioners do the best they can in challenging circumstances, they create their own forms of thought leadership
Gender — Global
Work can liberate women and transform societies, but employment alone is not enough. As digital, green, and demographic transitions reshape labor markets, the challenge is to ensure that every woman has access to decent work, rights, security, and opportunity
Humanitarian aid — Middle East and Northern Africa
How the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Water Award is advancing global solutions to water scarcity through innovation, recognition, and impact
Climate — Global
More frequent extreme weather events, as well as gradual changes to the global climate, are increasingly harming people and economies. Integrating climate risk into economic management can help unlock the finance needed to build resilience and protect progress towards the SDGs
Universal health coverage – a central target of the SDGs – seeks to guarantee access to essential health services without financial hardship. Achieving it, however, requires confronting the inequalities in access and quality that coverage alone cannot resolve
