Share of population living below national poverty lines in Jamaica
Jamaica: Share of population living below national poverty lines was 8.2% in 2023. ▼ Falling
Share of population living below national poverty lines in Jamaica, 2012–2023
Source: World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – processed by Our World in Data. Measured in % of population.
Analysis
Jamaica recorded 8.2% for share of population living below national poverty lines in 2023. That is the lowest value across all 10 years on record.
The figure is down 50.9% on the previous year and down 66.7% over ten years.
Over the whole period, share of population living below national poverty lines in Jamaica peaked at 24.6% in 2013 and was at its lowest, 8.2%, in 2023.
Jamaica ranks 60th of 70 countries on this measure, in the bottom quarter.
The long-run direction has been consistently falling across the 10 years of available data.
Share of population living below national poverty lines in Jamaica, year by year
| Year | % of population | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 19.9% | — |
| 2013 | 24.6% | +23.6% |
| 2014 | 20.0% | -18.7% |
| 2015 | 21.2% | +6.0% |
| 2016 | 17.1% | -19.3% |
| 2017 | 19.3% | +12.9% |
| 2018 | 12.6% | -34.7% |
| 2019 | 11.0% | -12.7% |
| 2021 | 16.7% | +51.8% |
| 2023 | 8.2% | -50.9% |
Averages by decade
| Decade | Average | Lowest | Highest | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 18.2% | 11.0% | 24.6% | 8 |
| 2020s | 12.4% | 8.2% | 16.7% | 2 |
Countries ranked near Jamaica
More poverty & inequality data for Jamaica
- Number of income/consumption surveys in the past decade available via the World Bank 2 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 1.36 live births per woman (2023)
- Cereal yield vs. share in extreme poverty 1,140 kg per hectare (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
- Cereal yield vs extreme poverty, annual growth rate -1.89 % change on previous year (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, gaps filled 27.77 (2023)
- Tax revenue as share of GDP vs. income inequality 27.8% (2023)
- Tax revenues vs income inequality, per unit of GDP 0 units per US$ of GDP (2023)
Frequently asked questions
- What is share of population living below national poverty lines in Jamaica?
- Share of population living below national poverty lines in Jamaica was 8.2% in 2023, according to World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – processed by Our World in Data.
- What is the highest share of population living below national poverty lines recorded in Jamaica?
- The highest recorded value was 24.6% in 2013.
- What is the lowest share of population living below national poverty lines recorded in Jamaica?
- The lowest recorded value was 8.2% in 2023.
- How does Jamaica rank for share of population living below national poverty lines?
- Jamaica ranks 60th out of 70 countries with data for 2023.
- Is share of population living below national poverty lines rising or falling in Jamaica?
- Over the last ten years it is down 66.7%. The long-run trend across the full record is falling.
- Where does this Jamaica data come from?
- The figures come from World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform (2026) – processed by Our World in Data, published as part of Share of population living below national poverty lines. Statizoid updates them automatically from the source API.
Download this data
CSV · JSON — 10 observations, free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data).
About this data
National poverty headcount ratio is the percentage of the population living below the national poverty lines. National estimates are based on population-weighted subgroup estimates from household surveys.