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Countries by Poverty Rate

Complete ranking of 37 countries • Percentage of population • Updated 2026

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About Poverty Rate Rankings

Costa Rica leads all 37 countries in Poverty Rate with a value of 21.16% of population, while Iceland ranks last at 4.86% of population. This represents a 4-fold difference between the highest and lowest values.

What Poverty Rate Measures

Share of people living in relative income poverty, from OECD How's Life / Well-Being.

Why This Ranking Matters

Examining Poverty Rate across all countries reveals patterns that might not be obvious at the national level. Regional clusters, outlier nations, and historical trajectories all become clearer when the full global picture is assembled in a single ranking.

Global Range

Values range from 4.86% of population (Iceland) to 21.16% of population (Costa Rica) — a 4-fold difference across 37 countries.

Regional Patterns

European countries dominate this ranking, holding 10 of the top 20 positions. This strong regional concentration suggests shared economic, geographic, or policy factors that drive higher values across the continent.

Values are broadly distributed across countries, with the middle 50% ranging from 8.03% of population to 14.3% of population. The overall spread from 4.86% of population to 21.16% of population reflects significant global variation.

Notable Outliers

The top of the ranking is competitive: Costa Rica and United States are separated by only 17%, indicating that the leading positions could shift with updated data. The bottom five countries are all from Europe, pointing to regional challenges that affect poverty rate across the continent.

Continental Leaders

North America

Costa Rica

21.16% of population

Asia

Israel

16.82% of population

South America

Chile

16.29% of population

Europe

Estonia

16.17% of population

Oceania

New Zealand

14.3% of population

Highest Poverty Rate

The 5 strongest Poverty Rate reads.

Costa Rica21.16% of populationUnited States18.09% of populationIsrael16.82% of populationChile16.29% of populationEstonia16.17% of population

Lowest Poverty Rate

The 5 lowest Poverty Rate reads.

Iceland4.86% of populationCzechia6.16% of populationDenmark6.31% of populationFinland6.80% of populationBelgium6.91% of population

Data Note

Rankings are based on the latest available data from OECD How's Life / Well-Being, covering 37 of 249 countries and territories. Countries without data for this metric are excluded from the ranking. All values represent the most recently reported figures.

Top 10 Countries

1stCosta Rica21.16% of population
2ndUnited States18.09% of population
3rdIsrael16.82% of population
4thChile16.29% of population
5thEstonia16.17% of population
6thLatvia16.17% of population
7thJapan15.4% of population
8thMexico15% of population
9thSouth Korea14.88% of population
10thNew Zealand14.3% of population

Country Ladder

1stCosta RicaNorth America21.16% of population2ndUnited StatesNorth America18.09% of population3rdIsraelAsia16.82% of population4thChileSouth America16.29% of population5thEstoniaEurope16.17% of population6thLatviaEurope16.17% of population7thJapanAsia15.4% of population8thMexicoNorth America15% of population9thSouth KoreaAsia14.88% of population10thNew ZealandOceania14.3% of population11thLithuaniaEurope14.09% of population12thSpainEurope13.75% of population13thTurkeyEurope13.15% of population14thAustraliaOceania12.6% of population15thUnited KingdomEurope12.57% of population16thItalyEurope12.23% of population17thCanadaNorth America12.2% of population18thGermanyEurope11.8% of population19thPortugalEurope11.24% of population20thGreeceEurope11.16% of population21stSwitzerlandEurope10.72% of population22ndHungaryEurope9.9% of population23rdAustriaEurope9.6% of population24thSlovakiaEurope9.4% of population25thPolandEurope9.1% of population26thLuxembourgEurope8.9% of population27thFranceEurope8.3% of population28thSwedenEurope8.0% of population29thNorwayEurope8.0% of population30thSloveniaEurope7.9% of population31stNetherlandsEurope7.0% of population32ndIrelandEurope7.0% of population33rdBelgiumEurope6.9% of population34thFinlandEurope6.8% of population35thDenmarkEurope6.3% of population36thCzechiaEurope6.2% of population37thIcelandEurope4.9% of population
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