Zambia: Proportion of people living below 50 percent of median income (%)

Key figures

Since 1991 it is down 12.7 percentage points from 34.6% in 1991. The World Bank has no value for 22 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

Closest to Zambia in the 2022 ranking

• Kosovo — 2nd of 9: 21.1%
• Israel — 3rd of 9: 21%
• Viet Nam — 4th of 9: 13.4%

What this measures

The percentage of people in the population who live in households whose per capita income or consumption is below half of the median income or consumption per capita. The median is measured at 2021 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) using the Poverty and Inequality Platform (http://www.pip.worldbank.org). For some countries, medians are not reported due to grouped and/or confidential data. The reference year is the year in which the underlying household survey data was collected. In cases for which the data collection period bridged two calendar years, the first year in which data were collected is reported.

Limitations: Despite progress in the last decade, the challenges of measuring poverty remain. The timeliness, frequency, quality, and comparability of household surveys need to increase substantially, particularly in the poorest countries. The availability and quality of poverty monitoring data remains low in small states, countries with fragile situations, and low-income countries and even some middle-income countries. The low frequency and lack of comparability of the data available in some countries create uncertainty over the magnitude of poverty reduction. Besides the frequency and timeliness of survey data, other data quality issues arise in measuring household living standards.

All 10 values

Proportion of people living below 50 percent of median income (%) in nearby economies

• Côte d'Ivoire — 10.1% (2021)
• Uganda — 13.2% (2023)

More poverty data for Zambia

• Income share held by second 20% — 7.3% (2022)
• Income share held by third 20% — 11.9% (2022)
• Income share held by fourth 20% — 20.5% (2022)
• Income share held by highest 20% — 56.4% (2022)
• Income share held by highest 10% — 39.1% (2022)
• Income share held by lowest 10% — 1.5% (2022)
• Income share held by lowest 20% — 3.9% (2022)
• Poverty headcount ratio at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (% of population) — 71.7% (2022)
• Poverty gap at $3.00 a day (2021 PPP) (%) — 39.8% (2022)
• Gini index — 51.5 (2022)

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Questions people ask

What is Zambia's proportion of people living below 50 percent of median income (%)?

21.9% in 2022, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1991?

It is down 12.7 percentage points from 34.6% in 1991. The highest value was 34.6% in 1991 and the lowest 13.2% in 2002.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are mostly from the Luxembourg Income Study database..

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SI.DST.50MD, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are based on primary household survey data obtained from government statistical agencies and World Bank country departments. Data for high-income economies are mostly from the Luxembourg Income Study database. Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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