Every fourth resident of Kyrgyzstan lived in poverty in 2020. The National Statistical Committee of the republic provided such data.
The general poverty line value last year amounted to 35,000 soms per year per capita, extreme poverty — 19,774 soms. If a person’s income per year is less than this amount, he or she is considered poor or extremely poor, respectively.
At least 1,678,000 people lived below the poverty line in 2020.
About 73.7 percent of them were residents of rural settlements. A decrease in the level of poverty last year, compared to the previous year, was registered in Osh city (by 6 percent) and Talas region (by 0.8 percent). An increase in the poverty level was observed in other regions. Including in Jalal-Abad region, the number of the poor people increased by 10.3 percent, Naryn — by 8.7 percent, Chui — by 6.3 percent, Osh — by 4.8 percent, Issyk-Kul — by 3.5 percent and Batken region — by 2.1 percent. The poverty rate increased by 4.9 percent in 2020 in the capital.
More than 58 percent of the total number of the poor lived in Jalal-Abad, Osh and Chui regions.
At least 833,900 children aged 0-17, or 31.8 percent, lived in conditions of poverty on the territory of the republic last year. At the same time, the highest number of the poor among children was registered in Jalal-Abad and Naryn regions. Almost a half of all children there lived in poverty.
