Ending extreme poverty for all people everywhere by 2030 is a central goal of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Extreme poverty, defined as living on less than $2.15 per person per day according to the 2017 purchasing power standard, has declined significantly over recent decades. However, the emergence of COVID-19 was a tipping point that reversed these gains, with 90 million more people living in extreme poverty for the first time in a generation than previously predicted.

Even before the pandemic, momentum toward poverty eradication had slowed. Real-time forecasts indicated that by the end of 2022, 8.4% of the world's population, or as many as 670 million people, will not be able to move out of extreme poverty. This setback has wiped out nearly three years of progress on poverty alleviation.

If current patterns continue, an estimated 7% of the world's population - some 575 million people - could find themselves trapped in extreme poverty by 2030, with a high concentration in sub-Saharan Africa.

Among the equally shocking and alarming discoveries are the return of hunger levels to those last recorded in 2005 and the continued increase in food prices in more countries than in the period from 2015 to 2019. This twin challenge of poverty and food security is a major global concern.