World Poverty

World Poverty Facts

What is world poverty and how does it affect the day-to-day reality of people around the world? Here is what world poverty looks like, in numbers:

• Over 1 billion people live on $2.50 per day or less, including 280 million people in extreme poverty who live on less than $1.25 per day.
• More than 75 percent of the world’s poor populations live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihood.
• In developing countries, the poor spend 60-80 percent of their income on food. Americans spend less than 10 percent.
• Over 800 million people worldwide do not have enough food to eat and more than 3 million children die from malnutrition each year.
• Nearly 1 billion people live without electricity.
• 40 million children worldwide live without adequate shelter.
• More than 750 million people lack adequate access to clean water.
• 270 million children have no access to health services.
• Nearly a billion people entered the 21^st century unable to read or write.
• 1.7 billion people do not have a bank account or access to basic financial services.

FINCA puts capital directly into the hands of millions of poor families in the form of small loans so entrepreneurs can develop their own small businesses and change their lives. FINCA also enables access to life-enhancing products, like clean energy, so that the world’s poor can improve their standard of living.

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