MORE than one billion people in the world live in acute poverty, over half are children and nearly 40 per cent live in conflict-torn and fragile countries, according to a damning new report released on Thursday.

The report by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at the University of Oxford in Britain also said that more than 83 per cent of poor people live in rural areas.

The report also said that 83 per cent of those in acute poverty live in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia.

The UN Development Programme and Oxford University have been publishing the Multidimensional Poverty Index since 2010 using indicators including health, education and standard of living. 

This year’s index included data from 112 countries with a combined population of 6.3 billion people.

According to the index, 1.1 billion people live in acute poverty, with nearly half in five countries: India with 234 million, Pakistan with 93 million, Ethiopia with 86 million, Nigeria with 74 million and Congo with 66 million.

Over half of the people living in poverty — 584 million — are children, with 317 million in sub-Saharan Africa and 184 million in south Asia, it said. 

In Afghanistan the proportion of impoverished children is even higher at nearly 59 per cent.

UNDP and Oxford said this year’s report focused on poverty amid conflict because 2023 saw more conflicts than at any time since World War II and that an all-time high of 117 million people were forced to flee their homes due to conflict, disasters and other factors.

Pedro Conceicao, director of the UN Development Programme office, said: “By overlaying conflict data with global MPI data for the first time, the report reveals the stark realities of those simultaneously enduring conflict and poverty.”

“A staggering 455 million people, both multidimensionally poor and living in contexts of conflict, face significantly harsher deprivations — three to five times more severe — when it comes to basic needs like nutrition, water and sanitation, electricity, and education, compared with those in poverty who live in more peaceful settings,” he said in a statement.

Sabina Alkire, director of the Oxford initiative, said it’s intuitive that reducing poverty is easier in peaceful settings than for these 455 million people, representing nearly 40 per cent of the 1.1 billion poor.

She said: “But the sheer proportions of the populations in our study also fearing for their safety is staggering and points to a real need for fostering and investing in peace.”