Colombia | Monetary Poverty 2024: Decline Driven by Improved Economic Performance

Summary

Poverty stood at 31.8% in 2024, down from 34.6% in 2023 – a reduction of 2.8 percentage points. This means 1.3 million people exited poverty between 2023 and 2024. Overall, between 2012 and 2024, poverty decreased by 9.2 pp, falling from 41% to 31.8%.

Key points

• Key points:
• Economic growth was the main factor reducing poverty between 2023 and 2024,followed by improvements in income distribution. However, the increase in the cost of the basic basket of goods and services (the poverty line) contributed to pushing poverty upwards.
• Extreme poverty stood at 11.7% in 2024, down from 12.6% in 2023 – a reduction of 0.9 pp. Economic growth drove this reduction. Conversely, both the increase in the cost of the basic food basket (the extreme poverty line) and changes in income distribution contributed to increasing extreme poverty.
• In 2024, poverty decreased in both urban and rural areas. By city, poverty fell in 22 of the 23 capital cities. The largest reductions occurred in Neiva and Ibagué. The improvement in Bogotá's poverty indicators is particularly significant: 352,000 people exited poverty in the city, equivalent to 28% of the total national reduction.
• Poverty is not uniform; significant gaps persist. Higher poverty rates are found in rural areas, among populations in female-led households, young people, and those with little or no education. Poverty is also higher in households headed by an unemployed person, a self-employed or informal worker, and in households with a higher number of children.

Geographies

Topics

Tags