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World Bank Group · Poverty Gap at $3.00 a Day
Poverty gap ($3.00 a day) by country
How far below the $3.00-a-day line do poor people fall, on average?
Of the 73 countries compared in 2022, 5 countries shared the lowest reading, 0.0000%, and Mozambique had the highest reading, 44.7200%. In the middle country the figure was 0.4200%. Among the 27 countries measured in every edition since 2002, the middle one moved from 0.6500% to 0.3200%.
Poverty gap ($3.00 a day) · 2022
Context statistic
5 countries share the lowest value, 0.0000% — no single country is named first.
012022 · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the lowest end of 73 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
Lowest in 2022 · shared
5 countries share the lowest reading, 0.0000%
No single country is named first: picking one from a shared value would be a choice the data does not make.
Highest in 2022
Mozambique44.7200%
Zambia39.7600%
Kenya13.5800%
Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
Lowest on each continent
- Africa
Equatorial Guinea1.8100% - Americas
Uruguay0.0700% - Asia
2 countries share 0.0000%
- Europe
3 countries share 0.0000%
- Every region
02Every measured country
Poverty gap ($3.00 a day) on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a lower value — the better end.
- 1.6400–44.7200%
- 0.5600–1.4400%
- 0.3100–0.5400%
- 0.0800–0.2900%
- 0.0000–0.0700%
- No reading in 2022 (96 measured in an earlier edition)
- Europe
0.2100%
the middle country, of 30 measured · 49 members
3 share 0.0000%
Kosovo5.6000%Lowest and highest reading in Europe.
- Asia
0.4800%
the middle country, of 20 measured · 52 members
2 share 0.0000%
Syria4.0900%Lowest and highest reading in Asia.
- Americas
0.7500%
the middle country, of 16 measured · 48 members
Uruguay0.0700%
Colombia3.6400%Lowest and highest reading in Americas.
- Africa
12.9800%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 55 members
Equatorial Guinea1.8100%Mozambique44.7200%Lowest and highest reading in Africa.
- Every region
17 sub-regions, lowest middle country first
- Western Europe
0.0450%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 9 members
2 share 0.0100%
Germany0.5600%Lowest and highest reading in Western Europe.
- Eastern Europe
0.1700%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 10 members
2 share 0.0000%
Romania0.5800%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Northern Europe
0.2100%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 13 members
Finland0.0800%
Sweden0.9000%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Europe.
- Western Asia
0.2900%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 19 members
Cyprus0.0001%Syria4.0900%Lowest and highest reading in Western Asia.
- Southern Europe
0.3200%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 17 members
Slovenia0.0000%Kosovo5.6000%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Europe.
- Southern Asia
0.5600%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 9 members
Bhutan0.0008%
Bangladesh0.9700%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Asia.
- South America
1.0250%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 12 members
Uruguay0.0700%Colombia3.6400%Lowest and highest reading in South America.
- Caribbean
1 of 24 measured — too few for a middle: Dominican Republic.
Dominican Republic0.2200%Lowest and highest reading in Caribbean.
- Central America
3 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Mexico.
Costa Rica0.5400%
El Salvador1.9700%Lowest and highest reading in Central America.
- Central Asia
3 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.
Kyrgyzstan0.5900%
Tajikistan2.2200%Lowest and highest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Africa
3 of 19 measured — too few for a middle: Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia.
Kenya13.5800%Mozambique44.7200%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Eastern Asia
2 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: China, Mongolia.
China0.0000%
Mongolia0.0800%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Middle Africa
2 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Chad, Equatorial Guinea.
Equatorial Guinea1.8100%
Chad12.7300%Lowest and highest reading in Middle Africa.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
Canada0.1500%
United States1.0400%Lowest and highest reading in Northern America.
- South-eastern Asia
3 of 11 measured — too few for a middle: Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam.
Thailand0.0000%
Indonesia1.3500%Lowest and highest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Southern Africa
1 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: South Africa.
South Africa5.1000%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Africa.
- Western Africa
1 of 16 measured — too few for a middle: Nigeria.
Nigeria12.9800%Lowest and highest reading in Western Africa.
03The whole field at once
The spread
73 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 0.4200%; a quarter are above 1.1800%, and a quarter below 0.1300%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 169 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first — position 1 is the highest value, the way World Bank Group’s own tables read. “=” marks a position shared with another country. World Bank Group ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. Two countries with the same headcount can sit far apart here, which is the point of the measure. The country set also changes every year, because each figure comes from whichever household survey that country happened to run — a country missing from an edition did not escape poverty, it did not run a survey.
Showing 25 of 169 countries
Values for 2022. The change column compares 2022 with 2021 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052002–2022 · 21 reference years
Over time
Each point is one reference year from 2002. A zero is real rather than a gap: several countries genuinely have nobody measurably below this line.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 27 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 73 | 0.4200% | 0.1300% – 1.1800% | 0.3200% |
| 2021 | 82 | 0.3350% | 0.0625% – 1.5150% | 0.2900% |
| 2020 | 71 | 0.2800% | 0.0550% – 0.9700% | 0.2800% |
| 2019 | 79 | 0.3800% | 0.0600% – 0.9100% | 0.3800% |
| 2018 | 94 | 0.4600% | 0.0850% – 1.8200% | 0.2600% |
| 2017 | 79 | 0.3000% | 0.1150% – 1.2150% | 0.3600% |
| 2016 | 84 | 0.4400% | 0.1225% – 1.3550% | 0.3900% |
| 2015 | 87 | 0.5000% | 0.1300% – 2.6400% | 0.4500% |
| 2014 | 84 | 0.6350% | 0.1375% – 2.1850% | 0.5600% |
| 2013 | 78 | 0.5150% | 0.0700% – 1.3850% | 0.5500% |
| 2012 | 87 | 0.6400% | 0.1250% – 2.4450% | 0.4700% |
| 2011 | 82 | 0.4300% | 0.0800% – 2.8850% | 0.5200% |
| 2010 | 87 | 0.5300% | 0.0950% – 3.1500% | 0.5600% |
| 2009 | 83 | 0.6000% | 0.1050% – 3.4700% | 0.5200% |
| 2008 | 79 | 0.3500% | 0.0850% – 2.6750% | 0.4600% |
| 2007 | 73 | 0.3600% | 0.0900% – 4.2300% | 0.4200% |
| 2006 | 82 | 0.4650% | 0.1150% – 3.5450% | 0.7700% |
| 2005 | 81 | 1.2500% | 0.2200% – 6.4200% | 0.8000% |
| 2004 | 75 | 0.7900% | 0.1900% – 6.5350% | 0.8300% |
| 2003 | 69 | 1.6500% | 0.2400% – 7.4500% | 0.5600% |
| 2002 | 68 | 3.0100% | 0.3525% – 10.1150% | 0.6500% |
062021 → 2022
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions — reference years recalculated in one report, not two separate publications. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Improved most
before → afterWorsened most
before → after- United States0.2700% → 1.0400% · 48th → 21st+0.7700
Paraguay0.4100% → 0.8700% · 38th → 25th+0.4600- Sweden0.4800% → 0.9000% · 35th → 24th+0.4200
Slovakia0.0600% → 0.3100% · 62nd → 44th+0.2500
Lithuania0.1700% → 0.4200% · 53rd → 36th+0.2500
56 countries were measured in both 2021 and 2022. The field changed from 82 to 73 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Poverty gap ($3.00 a day) in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
65.3300%
Poverty gap at $3.00 a day, 2021 PPP (%)
Lowest reading on record
Reached 77 times by 26 countries — shared, so no holder is named
0.0000%
Poverty gap at $3.00 a day, 2021 PPP (%)
Biggest improvement between editions
−8.3600
19.0400% → 10.6800%
Biggest decline between editions
+7.5100
0.4700% → 7.9800%
Most improved since first measured
−52.6400
54.2800% → 1.6400%
08The measure
About poverty gap ($3.00 a day)
The poverty gap is the average shortfall below $3.00 a day across a country’s whole population, counting everyone above the line as a shortfall of zero. Where the headcount says how many people are poor, the gap says how far below the line they fall — and so how much it would take to lift them over it.
What the number is: Poverty gap at $3.00 a day, 2021 PPP (%).
09Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Economy & Innovation and Development & Human Capital, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Economy & InnovationDevelopment & Human CapitalWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where poverty gap ($3.00 a day) is higher, these tend to be higher too.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Moves against
Where poverty gap ($3.00 a day) is higher, these tend to be lower.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 0 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
10Keep reading
Explore further
The countries at either end
More from World Bank Group
11Questions
Poverty gap ($3.00 a day): questions and answers
Which country has the lowest poverty gap ($3.00 a day)?
5 countries share the lowest reading, 0.0000%, among the 73 compared in 2022, so no single country is named.
Which country has the highest poverty gap ($3.00 a day)?
Mozambique, at 44.7200%, among the 73 countries compared in 2022.
How many countries does the Poverty Gap at $3.00 a Day cover?
73 in 2022, and 169 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 68 to 94 between editions.
What is the world average poverty gap ($3.00 a day)?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 73 compared in 2022, the figure was 0.4200%.
Is this World Bank Group’s own ranking?
No. World Bank Group publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Poverty Gap at $3.00 a Day published?
This site holds 21 reference years, 2002–2022, all recalculated in World Bank Group’s 2026 report on one method — not 21 separate publications.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From World Bank Group, under CC BY 4.0. Read from the World Bank’s Poverty and Inequality Platform rather than its indicator API, which rounds to one decimal and turns Belgium’s real 0.01% into a flat 0. Every edition is available on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, unrounded.
12Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Poverty Gap at $3.00 a Day — World Bank Group
Read from the World Bank’s Poverty and Inequality Platform rather than its indicator API, which rounds to one decimal and turns Belgium’s real 0.01% into a flat 0.
Newest edition
Report year 2022Data year 2022
Cite the source as: World Bank. Poverty and Inequality Platform. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-09-10.
How this page reads the numbers
- World Bank Group ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The full note on this data
21 reference years (2002–2022), covering 68 to 94 countries, from the World Bank’s own Poverty and Inequality Platform. The average shortfall below $3.00 a day across the WHOLE population, counting everyone above the line as a shortfall of zero. ⚠ IT ANSWERS A DIFFERENT QUESTION FROM THE HEADCOUNT, already on the site: the headcount says how many people are poor, the gap says how far below the line they fall. Two countries with the same headcount can have very different gaps, and the gap is the one that says what it would cost to close. ⚠ THE LINE MOVED IN 2025, from $2.15 at 2017 PPPs — the yardstick was re-based, so these figures are not comparable with published $1.90 or $2.15 figures from earlier reports. ⚠ THE COUNTRY SET CHANGES EVERY YEAR: each figure comes from whichever household survey that country happened to run, so a country missing from an edition did not escape poverty, it did not run a survey. ⚠ Read from PIP rather than the Bank’s indicator API, which rounds the same figure to one decimal — comparing 2022 row for row, 60 of 72 values differ and PIP carries more decimals in every one of them; Belgium is 0.01% at PIP and 0 at the API. ⚠ No rank is published, so none is stored; the POSITION on the statistics page is derived here by ordering the score and labelled as ours. Its deepest tie is five countries sharing exactly 0 — a genuine reading, not a rounding artefact, and the same case that let `poverty-headcount` opt in.
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Poverty gap ($3.00 a day) by country: Poverty Gap at $3.00 a Day, data from World Bank Group. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/poverty-gap