<i>&quot;We&#x27;ve made over a billion of the poorest of the poor less poor - that is a massive achievement.&quot;</i><p>That&#x27;s a pretty meaningless claim. Again, the data you&#x27;re leaning on to say that is using an exceptionally low bar, and it doesn&#x27;t really take into account regional economic differences. The whole reason the World Bank had to raise it to $1.90 a day from $1.25 a day was because in many parts of the developing world, $1.90 a day <i>buys you less</i> than $1.25 did at the start of the measurements!<p>More importantly, $1.91 a day still makes for a pretty miserable life anywhere in the world. You&#x27;re not magically on a trajectory to the middle class. You may be dying of waterborne illnesses and malnutrition, but you&#x27;re not absolutely poor by World Bank standards!<p>The claim that there are far fewer poor people from 1820 to present is more reasonable, but the problem there is that the gains mostly came from things like &quot;industrialization&quot;, which were big, one-time gains that, again, accrued mainly to the winners.