The World Bank considers that a person is below the poverty line if they are living on a maximum of US$1.90 per day, which has been adjusted over time due to inflation. According to the organization, the global poverty rate in 1987 was approximately 35.2%, and had decreased to 10.7% by 2013.

According to a report by the Institute of Freedom and Development (LyD according to its acronym in Spanish), based on data from the international organization, Chile is currently below this average since poverty dropped from 8.5% to 0.9% in the same period. However, in 2015 this figure rose to 1.3% of the population; in other words, poverty increased from affecting 158,684 people to 234,083. This phenomenon is contrary to what is happening in other countries in the region, such as Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, and Uruguay.