Ending extreme poverty would cost about $211 billion each year.

Global extreme poverty is a massive challenge, but how much money would it take to end it? Researchers looked at direct cash transfers to solve this. Instead of assuming governments know exactly who is poor, they used statistical learning, which means using computer models to target aid despite limited real-world information. They analyzed surveys covering most of the world's poor to test their approach. They found that dropping the poverty rate from 13% down to 1% would cost $211 B nominal per year. This price tag is 4.0 times the direct gap in poor people's income, but it is only 19% of the cost of universal basic incomeuniversal basic incomea system where everyone receives a regular cash payment from the government.. Worldwide, ending extreme poverty would take 0.28% of global GDP.

Why it matters

This estimate shows that nearly ending extreme poverty could be achieved with less than one-third of a percent of global GDP. It matters because it provides a concrete, affordable target for policymakers and donors aiming to help hundreds of millions of people.

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