Percentage of the World’s Denizens who Live on Less than $2/day

Using data from the United Nations’ Human Development Index, I put together this table of the thirty states in the world with the highest percentage of residents living on less than two dollars per day. After we have covered (international) political economy later this semester, you’ll know to ask whether the two dollar a day statistic is PPP-adjusted or not. The HDI rank is the Human Development Index rank (out of 177 countries ranked in 2007).

Using Country Watch (you can find a link to it at the course’s page at the library’s website, or click here), we see that Nigeria’s 2006 estimated (ethnic tensions in Africa’s most populous state prevent it from ever completing a census that is acceptable for all interested parties) population is approximately 132 million, meaning that fully 122 million persons in Nigeria survive on less than two dollars per day.

[UPDATE: “A world where some live in comfort and plenty, while half of the human race lives on less than $2 a day, is neither just nor stable. Including all of the world’s poor in a expanding circle of development–and opportunity–is a moral imperative and one of the top priorities of U.S. international policy.”

-President George W. Bush, The National Security Strategy of the U.S.A. 2002]

Country	Below 2$/day (%)	HDI Rank
Nigeria	92.4	158
Tanzania (United Republic of)	89.9	159
Rwanda	87.8	161
Burundi	87.6	167
Zambia	87.2	165
Niger	85.8	174
Madagascar	85.1	143
Bangladesh	84	140
Central African Republic	84	171
Zimbabwe	83	151
Gambia	82.9	155
India	80.4	128
Nicaragua	79.9	110
Ghana	78.5	135
Haiti	78	146
Swaziland	77.8	141
Ethiopia	77.8	169
Cambodia	77.7	131
Sierra Leone	74.5	177
Lao P.D.R.	74.1	130
Mozambique	74.1	172
Benin	73.7	163
Pakistan	73.6	136
Mali	72.1	173
Burkina Faso	71.8	176
Nepal	68.5	142
Mauritania	63.1	137
Malawi	62.9	164
Kenya	58.3	148