The number of people affected by multidimensional poverty worldwide has risen to 1.2 billion, marking the first increase in the United Nations global poverty index since its introduction in 2010, according to the United Nations Development Programme.

The report published on Monday by UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative at the University of Oxford, found that children account for more than half of those affected, totalling 617 million, while 83 per cent live in rural areas.

According to the report, 51.5 million more people were living in acute poverty than in the previous year.

UNDP Administrator Alexander De Croo described the increase as a “wake-up call for the world”.

“Behind these figures are 1.2 billion people facing hardships that reinforce one another: hunger, missed schooling and a lack of clean water or electricity. This is unacceptable,” he said in a press release.

More than half of people living in acute poverty worldwide are children.

However, the UNDP said population growth was a major factor behind the recorded increase, noting that new data were available for only 13 of the 108 developing countries covered by the report.

Despite the rise in the overall number of people living in poverty, the report highlighted some progress.

It found that 33 countries had halved the proportion of their populations living in poverty, as measured by the index, over the past 15 years.

Six of the 33 countries that halved their poverty rates were in sub-Saharan Africa. China and Vietnam were among the countries in Asia that recorded the fastest progress, the UNDP said.

As in the previous year, the report found that most people living in acute poverty were concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, particularly the Indian subcontinent, the world’s most densely populated region.

“In Egypt, Nepal, and Tajikistan, both the poverty rate and the number of people experiencing multidimensional poverty have decreased significantly,” the press release said.

In Angola and Zambia, poverty rates have declined, but population growth has outpaced the reductions, resulting in an increase in the number of people living in poverty.

The index measures poverty using indicators such as inadequate housing, lack of sanitation and electricity, limited access to cooking fuel and food, and insufficient education.

Nigeria recorded significant progress in reducing multidimensional poverty during the 2010s, but both the poverty rate and the number of people affected have risen in the 2020s, according to the report.

The latest global findings come amid continued concerns over the prevalence of multidimensional poverty in Nigeria and across sub-Saharan Africa.