Middle-income population at risk in 2022

This report section analyzes the middle-income population at risk due to a lack of access to sustainable cooling in 2022, focusing on high-impact countries. It details a global decline in this demographic, driven largely by the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and provides regional and country-specific breakdowns of population shifts.

• The middle-income population in high-impact countries, defined as those living on between USD 10.01 and USD 20 per day, decreased by approximately 75.7 million from 1.38 billion in 2021 to 1.3 billion in 2022. This follows a previous reduction of 79 million people from a 2020 global total of 1.46 billion.
• China has the largest middle-income population globally at 693.3 million, representing about 53 percent of the global total. Together with India, Brazil, Indonesia, and Vietnam, these five countries account for approximately 81 percent of the global middle-income population.
• Economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a shift toward lower-middle-income segments, leading to significant population decreases in China (nearly 19 million) and India (45.2 million) compared to the previous year. Five countries saw middle-income population decreases of 10 percent or more: Bangladesh, Djibouti, India, Myanmar, and Pakistan.
• Regionally, Asia and the Middle East contain 87 percent of the global middle-income population across 16 high-impact countries, though the population there fell by 79.3 million between 2021 and 2022. In contrast, the 31 high-impact countries in Africa saw their middle-income population increase by 7.1 million to reach 75.4 million, with the largest absolute increases in Egypt (2.3 million) and Uganda (1.3 million).
• In Latin America and the Caribbean, the middle-income population dropped by 3.5 million, from 98.4 million in 2021 to 94.9 million in 2022. This decline included reductions of 2.7 million in Brazil, 500,000 in Argentina, and 155,000 in Peru.

APA

Sustainable Energy for All (2022). Middle-income population at risk in 2022. https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/middle-income-population-at-risk

Chicago

Sustainable Energy for All. Middle-income population at risk in 2022. 2022. https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/middle-income-population-at-risk.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Sustainable Energy for All |title=Middle-income population at risk in 2022 |date=2022 |url=https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/middle-income-population-at-risk |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{sustainableenergyforall2022middleincome, author = {{Sustainable Energy for All}}, title = {{Middle-income population at risk in 2022}}, institution = {Sustainable Energy for All}, year = {2022}, url = {https://www.seforall.org/chilling-prospects-2022/middle-income-population-at-risk}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }