Relative poverty: Share of population below 50% of the median in Uruguay
Uruguay: Relative poverty: Share of population below 50% of the median was 17.4% in 2024. ▼ Falling
Relative poverty: Share of population below 50% of the median in Uruguay, 2006–2024
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data. Measured in %.
Analysis
The most recent figure for relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median in Uruguay is 17.4%, measured in 2024.
That represents a change of down 2.6% on the previous year and down 2.2% over ten years.
Over the whole period, relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median in Uruguay peaked at 19.8% in 2009 and was at its lowest, 16.9%, in 2018.
That places Uruguay 19th out of 120 countries with data for 2024, putting it in the top quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 19 years of available data.
Relative poverty: Share of population below 50% of the median in Uruguay, year by year
| Year | % | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 19.4% | — |
| 2007 | 19.7% | +1.3% |
| 2008 | 18.8% | -4.4% |
| 2009 | 19.8% | +5.6% |
| 2010 | 19.0% | -4.2% |
| 2011 | 18.4% | -3.1% |
| 2012 | 17.8% | -3.3% |
| 2013 | 18.1% | +1.7% |
| 2014 | 17.8% | -1.9% |
| 2015 | 18.2% | +2.3% |
| 2016 | 17.5% | -3.6% |
| 2017 | 17.2% | -2.1% |
| 2018 | 16.9% | -1.3% |
| 2019 | 17.4% | +2.6% |
| 2020 | 18.0% | +3.5% |
| 2021 | 17.3% | -3.7% |
| 2022 | 17.8% | +2.7% |
| 2023 | 17.8% | +0.4% |
| 2024 | 17.4% | -2.6% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 19.4% | 18.8% | 19.8% | 4 |
| 2010s | 17.8% | 16.9% | 19.0% | 10 |
| 2020s | 17.7% | 17.3% | 18.0% | 5 |
Countries ranked near Uruguay
More poverty & inequality data for Uruguay
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 9 surveys (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per person (2025)
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via 0 surveys per US$ of GDP (2025)
- Fertility rate vs. share living in extreme poverty 1.41 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 5,058 kg per hectare (2024)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2024)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate 10.1 % change on previous year (2024)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 25.88 (2021)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 25.9% (2021)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2021)
Frequently asked questions
- What is relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median in Uruguay?
- Relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median in Uruguay was 17.4% in 2024, according to World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median recorded in Uruguay?
- The highest recorded value was 19.8% in 2009.
- What is the lowest relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median recorded in Uruguay?
- The lowest recorded value was 16.9% in 2018.
- How does Uruguay rank for relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median?
- Uruguay ranks 19th out of 120 countries with data for 2024.
- Is relative poverty: share of population below 50% of the median rising or falling in Uruguay?
- Over the last ten years it is down 2.2%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Uruguay data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – with major processing by Our World in Data, published as part of Relative poverty: Share of population below 50% of the median. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 19 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
Percentage of population living in households with an income or consumption below 50% of the median.