Economy

Ethiopia Among Top Five Poorest Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: UNDP Report

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Ethiopia Among Top Five Poorest Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: UNDP Report
AI SUMMARY

A UNDP report names Ethiopia among the top five poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, with an estimated 90.77 million people living in multidimensional poverty.

  • Ethiopia is ranked alongside Chad, the Central African Republic, Niger, and Burundi as one of the top five poorest countries in Sub-Saharan Africa based on poverty incidence.
  • An estimated 90.77 million people in Ethiopia are projected to be living in multidimensional poverty, an increase from 88.46 million in the 2025 report.
  • The 2026 Global Multidimensional Poverty Index was released by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.
  • Poverty is evaluated across health, education, and standard of living, broken down into ten indicators including malnutrition, child mortality, and electricity shortages.
  • A person is classified as multidimensionally poor if their weighted deprivation score reaches 33.3 percent or higher.
  • Ethiopia's poverty headcount ratio remains steady at 68.7 percent, with population growth outpacing immediate poverty reduction in non-surveyed interim years.
  • The latest report overlays acute multidimensional poverty with climate hazards, revealing that nearly 80 percent of the world's multidimensionally poor live on the front lines of climate vulnerability.