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    [OC] China reduced extreme poverty fast, but Indonesia hasn’t been far behind
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    [OC] China reduced extreme poverty fast, but Indonesia hasn’t been far behind


    China is often the poster child for rapid reductions in poverty, and for good reason. In the early 1980s, over 90% of its population lived in extreme poverty, but by the early 2020s, that number had dropped to nearly zero.

    Some might assume that China is the only reason why global extreme poverty has declined. But that’s wrong: many countries have seen dramatic reductions in poverty, too. Indonesia is one clear example; it’s shown alongside China on the chart.

    In 1984, 86% of Indonesians lived on less than $3 per day. By 2025, this had fallen to less than 4%. While it didn’t quite match China’s decline, it has still been impressive. The number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen from 140 million to about 10 million.

    Note that the international poverty line is extremely low, defined as people living on less than $3 per day. But Indonesia has also made progress when measuring higher poverty lines.

    Data source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026)

    Tools used: Python, OWID Grapher, Figma

    Posted by ourworldindata

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    27 Comments

    4. pi_3141592653589 on

      Isn’t Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, etc more impressive? Gdp/capita caught up with the west decades ago. China is still 3 times lower.

    5. rambochackochan on

      In 1984, the population of China was approximately 1.04 billion, while the population of Indonesia was approximately 163.25 million.
      In terms of actual number of people uplifyed from extreme poverty, China’s achievement is much more impressive.

    6. BlueKante on

      I’ve been to both places and this is quite shoking to me honestly. Indonesia had kids begging for food on the streets. Thats unheard of in china.

    8. OutlawSixActual on

      I’d take any statistics published by the CCP with a huge dose of skepticism. Any stat that puts them in a bag light is massaged heavily, and no independent review is allowed (the whole “no freedom of the press” thing, ya know)

    9. spinabullet on

      I guess lower the lifespan of poor people with forest fire is one way to decrease the poverty?

    10. EasternSwimmer8131 on

      In the USA and UK it is actually quite opposite. Since 2008 massive increases of poverty, homelessness and crime plus drug abuse and street gangs violence. Middle classes in USA practically disappeared and towns villages suburbs look like from post apocalypse times. Neoliberalism is like cancer. Extracts everything from the society and returns back only debts , foreign wars, extreme environmental damage , crime , gangs and social destruction.

    11. Xylus1985 on

      I always thought what reduced extreme poverty is global inflation? Given that the line isn’t adjusted every year to keep up with inflations.

    13. Only_One_Kenobi on

      Now show this for a few western nations. I bet there’s an increase.

      Long term thinking vs short term power wrangling

    16. datums on

      This was the period when globalization, offshoring, and neoliberalism were destroying human civilization btw.

    18. wL0316 on

      Why has recent publicity sought to cast Indonesia in a favourable light after international reports highlighted transboundary haze from human-caused forest fires and the government’s inability to manage the crisis?

    19. cjdualima on

      3 dollars (around 60,000 rupiah in Indonesian currency) in 2026 is worth 20x less than it was worth in 1984… 3 dollars (60,000 rupiah) back in 1984 is worth around 60 dollars (1,200,000 rupiah) today… So, isn’t this like saying that there’s significantly fewer people in 2026 that live off of 3 dollars/day, vs the number of people that lived off of 60 dollars/day in 1984?

    20. EasternSwimmer8131 on

      I love Wyoming Rockies and Yellowstone and California and Oregon coast is my favourite plus it’s forests. I love also North East coast Maine, New England
      Funny, there is magic in Dakota in those crazy flat lands… ahh USA is so diverse in its nature , its people… its a great country. I want to go to Alaska but after things calm down . Plus need to save some cash cos there expensive.

    22. lo_fi_ho on

      Wow. I visited Bandung, Indonesia back in ’95 and the poverty level was shocking. Famlilies living in literal garbage dumps with just a small metal sheet as a roof. I’m happy to hear that things have gotten massively better since then.

    23. SeaPeanut7_ on

      Looks like they’re about a decade behind China despite starting ahead of them 40 years ago.. so I’m not sure it’s really on the same level