Extreme Poverty in Sierra Leone: 1800 to Today (and Tomorrow)

To understand extreme poverty is to look at the daily threshold of $2.15/day, 2017 PPP. Behind these percentages are the lives of millions, measured not by abstract economic theories, but by the relentless reality of what is available to sustain a household. When a country stands at 35 % extreme poverty, the data reflects a struggle that defines individual possibility and collective endurance. While these numbers offer a precise look at the constraints of history, they ultimately track the slow, uneven transition toward a world where basic survival is no longer a daily uncertainty.

The narrative arc of Sierra Leone across three centuries is a study in long-term momentum. For the entire nineteenth century, including the 1800s estimate 80, the 1830s estimate 80, and the 1900s estimate 80, the rate remained largely static. Change began to accelerate in the mid-twentieth century, moving from 75 in the 1950s to 55 in the 1980s. Today, the country sits at 35 % — ranking #148 of 157 countries. Projections indicate this trajectory continues downward, reaching 26.25 in the 2030s and eventually 3.5 in the 2100s.

If you were born in the 1850s estimate 80, the statistical likelihood of living in extreme poverty was almost total. The experience of a life lived in the 2020s is fundamentally altered by the decline of that burden, though the weight of the past remains visible in the current rank of #148 of 157 countries. For a child born into the 2090s projection 4.67, the horizon of expectation will be defined by a vastly different economic reality than those who came before. Use our interactive tool to see where do YOU rank among everyone ever born?