Issue Rebuilding the measurement of human need around decent living standards

Summary

New frameworks for measuring poverty are emerging that go beyond the Human Development Index. The basic needs poverty line covers the minimum food, water, clothing, heating and housing every person requires, and while 17.3% of the world could not meet these in 2011, food insecurity data suggest the share reached 30% by 2020. In 2024, 847 million people lived in extreme poverty on $3 a day, whereas decent living standards include wider needs such as climate control, computers, education, healthcare, lighting, sanitation and transport. Maslow's hierarchy of needs, published more than 50 years ago, still shapes how needs are understood, rising from safety and belonging to self-esteem and the rare fulfilment of potential. As AI transforms work, the shape of that pyramid and its number of levels may change, with more people possibly reaching self-actualisation through AI while social needs prove more basic than Maslow assumed.