As the holiday season approaches, it is important to consider those less fortunate both here in the U.S. and abroad.

Times are difficult, with even those of modest means struggling to make ends meet and no wiggle room in the budget. Those in extreme poverty are overwhelmed.

The World Bank provides a Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report. Below is the introduction to the 2024 summary and a link to the full report.

“Progress: Global poverty reduction and improvements
in shared prosperity have stalled.

Global poverty reduction has slowed to a near standstill, with 2020–30 set to be a lost decade.
Today, 8.5 percent of the world lives in extreme poverty (those living on less than $2.15 per
person per day) (figure 1, panel a). At a poverty standard more relevant for upper-middle-income
countries ($6.85 per person per day), 44 percent of the world’s population lives in poverty.
The number of people living under this higher standard has barely changed since 1990 due to
population growth (figure 1, panel b). At the current pace of progress, it would take decades to
eradicate extreme poverty and more than a century to lift people above $6.85 per day.
Progress has stalled amid multiple shocks and growth patterns that have not enabled the poorest
to catch up. The COVID-19 pandemic had scarring impacts, and extreme poverty in the poorest
countries today is still above prepandemic rates. Poverty continues to concentrate in settings with
historically low economic growth and fragility. Gains in reducing the Global Prosperity Gap, the
World Bank’s new measure of shared prosperity, have also stopped since the pandemic due to a
reduction in economic growth and a divergence in mean incomes across countries (figure 2, panel a).
Today, incomes around the world, on average, would have to increase fivefold to reach a prosperity
standard of $25 per person per day, which in many places remains completely aspirational.”

Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2024