Poverty at the national line — all countries

Poverty at the national line — Botswana

Poverty at the national line in Botswana in 2015 — 16.1%. Ranked 18 in the world out of 56. Since 1985, the indicator has fallen by 42.9 pp.

2015 16.1% −3.2 pp vs 2009
World rank 18of 56
Period maximum 59%1985
Period minimum 16.1%2015

Trend over time

1985–2015 · % of population

Poverty at the national line — Botswana, 1985–20150204060198519881991199419972000200320062009201220151985: 59%1993: 32.9%2002: 30.6%2009: 19.3%2015: 16.1%
Change over the period: −42.9 pp Annual average: -1.43 pp
Poverty at the national line — Botswana, by year Botswana All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2015 16.1
2009 19.3
2002 30.6
1993 32.9
1985 59

Southern Africa, 2015

The same indicator for neighboring countries — with links to their pages

BW Botswana 16.1 NA Namibia 17.4

About the indicator

The share of the population below the national poverty line — the one a country has defined in its legislation or in the methodology of its statistical office. The indicator answers a question the international lines do not ask: how many people are poor by the standards of their own society. That is exactly why it is unfit for comparing countries with one another — yet it shows better than any other indicator how a country assesses poverty at home, and it is what the results of national policy are judged by.

Important: There are no aggregates for country groups, and this is not a gap: poverty lines differ between countries, and a sum of shares computed against different lines has no definition. For comparing countries there are the three international lines.

Source: World Development Indicators (World Bank), license CC BY 4.0.