China Wipes Out Extreme Poverty While U.S. Inequality Reaches New Extremes

China’s extraordinary reduction of extreme poverty—from nearly a billion people to zero within three decades—stands as a landmark global achievement. Massive state-led programs and rapid industrial growth fueled this transformation.
The United States, despite being far richer, shows the opposite pattern. Extreme poverty has grown to more than 4 million Americans living on less than $3 per day—triple the number from 35 years ago.
American productivity remains among the world’s highest. Yet the country’s wealth is concentrated in the upper tiers, leaving the bottom increasingly vulnerable.
In the U.S., middle-class income shares have been shrinking for decades. The poorest Americans survive on just 1.8% of national income, comparable to low-income nations.
Cuts to Medicaid, nutrition support, and social assistance, along with tariff-driven price increases, reveal policy choices that exacerbate inequality. U.S. poverty trends are political, not accidental.