The world’s recovery from the poverty setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be losing ground, according to the 2026 Pope Francis Global Poverty Report, which also warns of a sharp decline in international development assistance. Source: NCR Online.
The annual Fordham University report was released on Friday, ahead yesterday’s observation of the 10th annual World Day of the Poor.
The report’s global poverty gap – the global average of the relevant world population that lacks access to the seven basic human needs fundamental to human dignity – reached 25.8 per cent in 2025, up from 25.1 per cent in the previous edition.
The increase of 0.7 percentage points follows a period of improvement after the pandemic, suggesting that the recovery may now be reversing.
“It should be going down instead of going up,” said Henry Schwalbenberg, a Fordham economics professor and editor of the report.
He cautioned that one year’s movement is not enough to establish a lasting trend. “It could go either way next year,” he said.
Inspired by Pope Francis’s 2015 address to the United Nations, the annual Fordham measure goes beyond income and examines whether people can meet seven basic needs: water, food, housing and decent employment, as well as education, gender equity and religious freedom.
This is the third year the New York-based Jesuit university has issued this report.
The global poverty gap is the average share of people lacking access across these seven categories. It does not mean that 25.8 per cent of the world’s population is poor, since the categories cover different populations and may overlap.
The index also traces the impact of COVID-19. Its global gap reached 26.7 per cent in 2022, then dropped to 25.2 per cent in 2023 and 25.1 per cent in 2024, before remaining unchanged in 2025.
The latest figures – based on the most recently available data for 2025 – show modest advances in some areas, but major deprivation remains widespread.
For the first time, the report includes a section on international aid, reflecting growing concern about whether wealthy countries will continue supporting poorer nations.
Using figures from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Fordham reports that its member countries provided $257.3 billion ($US174.3 billion) in official development assistance in 2025. Germany became the largest contributor, with $43 billion ($US29.1 billion), narrowly ahead of the United States at $42.8 billion ($US29 billion).
The United States contributed the equivalent of 0.1 per cent of its gross national income, compared with Germany’s 0.6 per cent.
The US, however, stood out for the scale of its cuts, which he described as roughly halving American aid in 2025.
Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia el-Kassis, the Vatican’s permanent observer to the United Nations in New York, attended the report release event and praised the project.
“Your collaboration unites scholarship, service and international dialogue in common cause that people living in poverty receive the attention, respect and opportunities that human dignity demand,” he said.
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Global poverty recovery at risk as foreign aid shrinks, new Fordham report warns (By Camillo Barone, NCR Online)
