Extreme poverty in the world is about to hit a record low

The number of the world’s population living in extreme poverty will fall be the lowest on record this year, according to a report released Sunday by the World Bank.

As of 2015, about 702 million people – or 9.6 percent of people on Earth – live on less than $1.90 per day, according to the District of Columbia-based international financial institution. The World Bank also raised the definition of extreme poverty in 2015 to income of $1.90 from $1.25 in order to account for inflation using 2011 prices.

The extreme poverty rate has continually declined over the last quarter century from more than 1.9 billion in 1990, when 37.1 percent of the population lived in extreme poverty.

About half of those presently included in the figure live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The most dramatic declines were experienced in East and South Asia due to economic development in China and India. The World Bank’s goal is to end extreme poverty by 2030.

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