According to a new United Nations report, 25 countries managed to halve their Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) over periods ranging from 4 to 15 years. This isn’t abstract number-crunching. It represents millions of families moving out of deprivation and into more stable living conditions. 

Here’s what that progress looks like in three countries:

• India: 415 million people exited multidimensional poverty between 2005–2021

• China: 69 million people exited multidimensional poverty between 2010–2014

• Indonesia: 8 million people exited multidimensional poverty between 2012–2017

Other countries, including Cambodia, Congo, and Honduras, also achieved significant reductions in poverty, showing that this progress wasn’t limited to one region or one development model. At the same time, the picture remains uneven, with stark differences between regions.

Around 83.2 percent of people living in multidimensional poverty are concentrated in just two regions: Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. 

Interestingly, among the 20 countries that achieved the largest absolute reductions in multidimensional poverty, 14 are in Sub-Saharan Africa, underscoring both the scale of the challenge but also the  potential for progress in the region Social Income is working in.

Total population living in extreme poverty by world region

Extreme poverty is defined as living below the International Poverty Line of $3 per day. This data is adjusted for inflation and differences in living costs between countries. Data source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2025)

The takeaway is clear: poverty reduction is possible at scale and can happen much faster than many people assume.

What Made Progress Possible?

There was no single switch that was flipped. No silver bullet. Progress took shape where many small, steady changes met. Where schools stayed open and where clinics became accessible. Where illness was prevented instead of endured. Where water ran closer to home, where electricity stopped being a luxury, and where community organizations stepped in when the state fell short. 

Real progress happened where these improvements worked together, reinforcing one another over time.

And, just as important, it happened where people were given room to act. Poverty is called multidimensional for a reason. It doesn’t look the same from one doorstep to the next. One family is held back by school fees. Another by unsafe sanitation. Another by the cost of illness. Progress out of poverty accelerated when families had the freedom to address the problem that mattered most to them. 

This is where cash transfers come in. Not as a replacement for public services or long-term reforms. Cash transfers don’t claim to fix everything. What it offers is simpler and more human. A choice. Trust. A small but meaningful margin of control in lives that often have very little of it. Cash lets people address their real needs, rather than the ones others decide for them.

When families can decide for themselves, progress stops being abstract. It becomes tangible. A child stays in school. A home becomes safer. A crisis is avoided. This is how development moves from policy papers into daily life. Quietly. Gradually. One decision at a time.

Progress Made. Now Back to Work.

Even as progress becomes visible, the scale of what remains to be done is vast. Worldwide, 1.1 billion people are still living in multidimensional poverty. That number is not abstract; it represents real lives determined by constant trade-offs.

Poverty for these individuals is defined by what is missing each day: clean water, electricity, or the security of an accessible  clinic. In the countries where Social Income is active, or is currently piloting programs (learn how we expand carefully into new countries), this reality can affect more than half of the population. 

The gains we’ve seen prove that change is possible and deserves to be recognized, but the responsibility to act remains unchanged.