It depends entirely on how you define poverty- typically these claims are based on a figure of $1.90 per day as the threshold for "extreme poverty", and you can

It depends entirely on how you define poverty- typically these claims are based on a figure of $1.90 per day as the threshold for "extreme poverty", and you can use the World Bank's calculator to verify that they are true here: http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/povOnDemand.aspx http://iresearch.worldbank.org/PovcalNet/povOnDemand.aspx But it doesn't tell the whole story. Could you survive on $2 per day? The implication of this claim is that you are not in "extreme poverty" at that threshold, but I'm not sure many people would agree. The next natural step is to ask where the line really should be drawn? For many reasonable numbers, we can see that number has been rising in the past few decades. You can set your own inputs on the linked calculator based on where you believe the poverty line should be drawn and decide for yourself.