Society · Poverty headcount ($3.00 a day) · Mauritania
Mauritania’s poverty headcount ($3.00 a day) was 10.2% of population in 2019.
10.2% of population
2019Derived
Down 1.5 pp from 2014.
Stale — last updated 18 Oct 2026
In plain words
10.2% of population
What it is. This measure counts the share of people living below a very low daily line, set in international dollars so that a dollar buys a comparable basket of goods in every country. The World Bank models it from household surveys and fills the years between surveys by interpolation or extrapolation, so many yearly values are estimates. Every person under the line counts equally, whether just below it or far below it. It is a World Bank modelled estimate and has no official national release behind it.
Lower is better. A lower share means fewer people cannot afford basic food, shelter and other necessities, so a falling figure is good news. The latest figure is 10.2% of population, for 2019. That is the lowest point in the series since 1987. The highest was 54.1% of population in 1993, so the share is now far below where it began.
Why it matters. At 10.2% of population in 2019, most Mauritanians lived above the line, though many households sitting just above it remain exposed to a rise in food or fuel prices. For the state, a share this size means a smaller but still sizeable group for social transfers and rural support programmes to reach. A newer household survey is the place to check whether this level has held since 2019.
| Period | Poverty headcount ($3.00 a day) · Mauritania |
|---|---|
| 1987 | 50.8% of population |
| 1993 | 54.1% of population |
| 1995 | 31.7% of population |
| 2000 | 30.7% of population |
| 2004 | 28.5% of population |
| 2008 | 19.2% of population |
| 2014 | 11.7% of population |
| 2019 | 10.2% of population |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Strata-AF™ Data, Poverty headcount ($3.00 a day), Mauritania, 2019; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 18 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/society/poverty-headcount/mauritania
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
What this means
Working this out from the published figures…
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Methodology
Share of the population living on less than $3.00 a day (2021 purchasing power parity). A World Bank modelled estimate from household surveys, interpolated or extrapolated between survey years; not an official national release.
Share of the population living on less than $3.00 a day (2021 purchasing power parity). Unit: % of population.
This is a World Bank modelled estimate. It is built from household surveys and interpolated or extrapolated between survey years. It is not an official national release, and every value carries the Derived label.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series SI.POV.DDAY), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.