Poverty thresholds
The definition of poverty depends on a country’s income classification. The World Bank applies different daily poverty thresholds according to income level:
- $2.15/day – for low-income countries
- $3.65/day – for lower-middle-income countries
- $6.85/day – for upper-middle-income countries
Upper-middle-income countries like Indonesia are nations with a gross national annual income (GNI) per capita between US$4,046 and US$12,535.
The latest figures are for 2024 and are used in the chart. But the full report, which I’ve read, still uses the lower, out-of-date, threshold of $3.65/day that applied before Indonesia was moved into the upper-middle-income bracket in 2023.
So the chart is saying that 60% of the population live on less than $6.85 a day. That’s approximately 171.9 million Indonesians living on less than US$6.85 per day.
That is the World Bank's official national poverty rate for Indonesia (at the upper-middle-income level).
My Conclusions
- Whoever produced that chart has updated it with the correct figures. (The full report on which it is based uses the older, out-of-date threshold.)
- But really, the main conclusion from that chart is that although Indonesia has moved into the upper-middle-income bracket, 60% of its population lives below the World Bank's definition of poverty. This says in ordinary-speak that Indonesia is a very corrupt country, or at least strongly unequal, with a very uneven spread of the benefits of the economic growth it’s been enjoying since globalisation.
She Was Poor But She Was Honest
"It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure.
Ain't it a blooming shame?
...No matter where you look, the top few percent own almost everything, and the bottom half have only debts.- In summary, the chart speaks to the WEF prediction for 2030 that “you will own nothing and you will be happy.” (Incidentally, it was a prediction — not a policy statement!)
