Poverty at the national line — all countries

Poverty at the national line — Sri Lanka

Poverty at the national line in Sri Lanka in 2019 — 14.3%. Ranked 22 in the world out of 62. Since 1990, the indicator has fallen by 11.8 pp.

2019 14.3% −1.7 pp vs 2016
World rank 22of 62
Period maximum 46.8%2002
Period minimum 14.3%2019

Trend over time

1990–2019 · % of population

Poverty at the national line — Sri Lanka, 1990–20190204060199019931996199920022005200820112014201720191990: 26.1%1995: 28.8%2002: 46.8%2006: 34.1%2009: 28.4%2012: 22.5%2016: 16%2019: 14.3%
Change over the period: −11.8 pp Annual average: -0.41 pp
Poverty at the national line — Sri Lanka, by year Sri Lanka All countries CSV XLSX
Year % Change, pp
2019 14.3
2016 16
2012 22.5
2009 28.4
2006 34.1
2002 46.8
1995 28.8
1990 26.1

Southern Asia, 2019

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

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.