What Would it Cost to End Extreme Poverty?
How much money would actually end extreme global poverty?
Ending extreme poverty worldwide would cost about $211 billion per year—roughly 0.28% of global GDP—if money went directly to the poorest households, according to analysis of poverty data from 34 countries covering three-quarters of the world's poor. This is far cheaper than providing universal basic income to everyone, though it does cost four times more than simply closing the poverty gap if distribution were perfectly efficient.
The finding gives policymakers a concrete budget figure for what ending extreme poverty would actually require, making it easier to evaluate whether current aid spending is adequate or whether ending poverty is a genuinely affordable goal. At less than one-third of one percent of global GDP, the cost is small enough that the obstacle to ending poverty is primarily political will rather than economic impossibility.