International Poverty Line
The international poverty line is the World Bank's threshold for extreme poverty: a daily amount per person, expressed in purchasing-power-adjusted dollars, below which someone is counted as extremely poor. Since June 2025 it has been US$3.00 a day.
Also called: global poverty line · extreme poverty line · World Bank poverty line · dollar-a-day line
The line began as roughly a dollar a day in 1990 and has been reset each time new price data arrive: US$1.25, US$1.90, US$2.15 and now US$3.00 in 2021 prices. It is derived from the national poverty lines of the world's poorest countries, converted using purchasing power parity so that it represents similar buying power everywhere.
Because the figure is in PPP dollars, it is not what a person would receive at a bank or money transfer counter. Three international dollars a day may correspond to well under one US dollar at market exchange rates in a low-price country.
The line is a measuring convention, and where it is drawn changes the count. Each revision moves hundreds of millions of people above or below it on paper without any change in their circumstances. The World Bank publishes higher lines for middle-income countries for that reason, and critics argue that any single global threshold understates what a decent minimum costs.
In practice
Poverty counts from different revisions of the line are not directly comparable. Always check which line and which price year a statistic uses.
Commonly confused with
| Term | How it differs |
|---|---|
| National poverty line | Each country sets its own poverty line for domestic policy, usually well above the international one. The international line exists for cross-country comparison only. |
See also
- Purchasing Power ParityPurchasing power parity (PPP) is a conversion rate between currencies that equalises what money can buy, calculated by comparing the cost of the same basket of goods and services in each country. It is used to compare incomes and living standards.
- RemittanceA remittance is a cross-border transfer sent by one individual to another — typically a migrant worker sending money home to family. It is distinct from a commercial payment between businesses, and regulators define it more narrowly than everyday speech does.
- Hard CurrencyA hard currency is one that is widely accepted for international payment, freely convertible and expected to hold its value, such as the US dollar, euro, yen, pound sterling or Swiss franc. Suppliers abroad generally insist on being paid in one.
- Mid-Market RateThe mid-market rate is the midpoint between the price at which a currency pair is being bought and the price at which it is being sold — the rate with no margin added. It is a reference point for pricing, not a rate a customer transacts at.
- Last MileThe last mile is the final step of a cross-border payment: getting value into a form the recipient can actually use, in their own country, in local currency. It is where most of the cost, most of the failure and most of the competitive difference in a corridor sit.