Estimating the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on poverty in Asia-Pacific LDCs

This technical note provides a brief review of global poverty estimates of the impact of the pandemic and proposes a new estimate for Asia-Pacific LDCs. It finds that by 2021, the pandemic could push around 3.4 million people into extreme poverty based on the $1.90-per-day international poverty line and 10.7 million people under the $3.20-per-day poverty line in Asia-Pacific LDCs. The application of the same methodology to all Asia-Pacific developing countries reveals that nearly 90 million people could be pushed into extreme poverty and over 150 million and 170 million under the $3.20 and $5.50 poverty lines, respectively, by 2021.