The World Bank identifies "extreme poverty" as being people who live on less than US$(PPP) 1 a day, and "poverty" as less than $2 a day. On that standard, 21% of the world's population was in extreme poverty, and more than half the world's population were poor in 2001. [1]

The World Bank states that in 2001 worldwide about 1.1 billion humans (which is 21% of the worldpopulation) had less than $1 in local purchasing power per day. (In comparison: 1981 there were 1.5 billion humans, which made up 40% of the worldpopulation; in 1987 1.227 billion humans equaling 30%; 1993 1.314 billion humans equaling 29% of the worldpopulation).

About 8 million people die each year because they are too poor to survive.
The Borgen Project points out that while the U.S. government spends over $300 billion dollars a year on military contracts, only $19 billion a year is needed to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goals of ending severe poverty by 2025.

Poverty may be seen as the collective condition of poor people, or of poor groups, and in this sense entire nation-states are sometimes regarded as poor. To avoid stigma these are usually called developing nations, but this too is considered derogatory by some.

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