Climate change exacerbates the suffering of 80% of the world’s poor

Nearly 80% of the world’s poor, or about 900 million people, are directly exposed to climate risks exacerbated by global warming, the United Nations warned yesterday.

The acting head of the United Nations Development Programme, Haoling Xu, said: “No one is immune to the increasingly severe and recurring impacts of climate change, but our poorest are the most affected by these consequences, including heat waves, droughts and floods.”

He said in a written statement to Agence France-Presse: “The 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP30) in Brazil next November should be an opportunity for world leaders to consider climate action as action against poverty.”

The United Nations Development Program and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) research center publish the annual global multidimensional poverty index, which now includes data from 109 countries with a population of 6.3 billion people.

This indicator takes into account factors including malnutrition and infant mortality, in addition to the lack of housing, sanitation networks, electricity, and educational opportunities.

Family situation

The results showed that 1.1 billion people were living in “severe” multidimensional poverty in 2024, half of whom were minors.

These numbers, similar to those of 2023, reflect a trend towards stagnation in this multidimensional poverty, which the index report embodies by presenting the case of the family of a man named Ricardo.

Ricardo belongs to the Guarani indigenous group, and lives in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, with his wife, three children, parents, and his divorced sister and her children.

The total number of family members is 19 people, and they live in one small house, with only one bathroom, with a limited income and a kitchen that is powered by wood and charcoal, while none of the family’s children receive a school education.

4 risks

Two regions are particularly affected by this poverty: Sub-Saharan Africa (565 million poor) and South Asia (390 million), which are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

In this context, and a few weeks before the Thirtieth Conference of the Parties, the United Nations Development Program and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative sought this year to highlight the “intersection” between this poverty and exposure to four environmental risks: extreme heat (at least 30 days in which the temperature exceeds 35 degrees Celsius), drought, floods, and air pollution (concentration of fine particles).

The report showed that about 78.8% of this poor population (887 million people) are directly exposed to at least one of these threats, led by extreme heat (608 million), then pollution (577 million), floods (465 million), and drought (207 million people).

He explained that 651 million people are exposed to at least two risks, and 309 million to three or four risks, and 11 million faced all four risks in one year, stressing that “the coincidence of poverty and climate risks undoubtedly represents a global problem.”

Development

The rise in extreme weather events threatens development progress. For example, South Asia has proven “successful” in combating poverty, but with 99.1% of its poor population exposed to at least one climate threat, the region must “chart a new path that balances resolute poverty reduction with innovative climate action.”

The situation is likely to get worse, as current global temperatures are about 1.4 degrees Celsius higher than they were in the 19th century. Expectations indicate – for example – that the poorest countries in the world today will be the most affected by rising temperatures.

• 1.1 billion people were living in “severe” poverty in 2024, half of whom were minors.

• The international organization focused on the “interplay” between poverty and exposure to four environmental risks, including extreme heat, drought, floods, and air pollution.