In January 2026, UNITA decried the "impoverishment of families and businesses", denouncing an unaffordable basic basket and stating that "a President's role is not to increase poverty for his people" (Lusa/VerAngola). In April, it again rejected that Angola should "normalise survival as a way of life", pointing to the erosion of wage purchasing power and youth unemployment. The MPLA countered with stability and investment — "more factories, more schools… more dignity for the Angolan people". Behind the political dispute lies an empirical question: what is actually happening to the material living conditions of Angolan families.

«The macro recovers on a spreadsheet; the micro grows poorer at the dinner table.»

01 · A deprivation that worsened and did not recede

Lived poverty measures felt material deprivation — how often, in the past year, five essential goods were lacking: food, clean water, medical care, cooking fuel and cash income. Our survey series shows a clear deterioration: between 2019 and 2022, years of recession and high inflation, the LPI jumped from 1.71 to 1.99; in 2024, despite the return of growth, it remained at 1.99. The share in high poverty rose from just over a third to nearly half the population.

• Round 8 (2019): LPI 1.71 — 35% high poverty, 34% moderate, 7% none.
• Round 9 (2022): LPI 1.99 — 44% high, 34% moderate, 4% none.
• Round 10 (2024): LPI 1.99 — 46% high, 30% moderate, 5% none.
• DTA (2024, online): LPI 1.42 — 19% high, 44% moderate, 3% none (phone sample of Internet users, not comparable).

02 · The economy recovers, lived poverty does not

The contrast between macroeconomic figures and the experience of families is the heart of this picture. After five years of recession (2016–2020), the economy grew again and accelerated to 4.4% in 2024, driven by the recovery of oil, diamonds, trade and fishing. And yet it is precisely in this period of recovery that lived poverty reaches its peak. The World Bank estimated that in 2018, 52.9% of Angolans (about 16.5 million) lived on less than 3.65 dollars a day, with a Gini of 51.3 — among the most unequal in the world. The IMF records falling inflation, from 27.5% (Dec. 2024) to 15.7% (Dec. 2025) and 12.4% (Mar. 2026). But the recovery is "unlikely to significantly improve living standards" over 2025–27.

03 · Who is hardest hit: the social map of deprivation

Lived poverty is not evenly distributed. Crossing the indicator with the sociodemographic characteristics of Round 10 (2024) respondents, three divides stand out: territory, education and age. The strongest divide is rural–urban: high poverty is nearly double in the countryside (65%) versus the city (36%). Education follows: it falls from 59% among those with primary schooling or less to 24% among those with higher education. And it worsens with age, from 41% (18–25) to 60% (56+). Between men and women the difference is minimal (45% vs 46%). Geographically, deprivation is most intense in the interior: Moxico (70%), Lunda Norte (69%) and Uíge (66%) lead, while Luanda (30%) and Cabinda (31%) record the lowest values.

04 · Water: the most visible symptom

Among the five essential goods, access to clean water degraded the most: going "always" without water rose from 16% (2019) to 24% (2024) — one in four. Cooking fuel and medical care follow the same trend. These are deprivations that accumulate on the same families — rural, less educated and older.

05 · What these numbers (do not) say

Three caveats. Rounds 8, 9 and 10 are national, in-person, weighted samples, comparable to one another. The DTA survey is different: by phone, among Internet users (more urban, young and educated) and unweighted — so its lower LPI (1.42) does not indicate less poverty in the country, but that it measures a more advantaged segment.

06 · What this means

The message is sober: macroeconomic growth alone is not reducing the deprivation Angolans feel. Without policies that reach families directly — water, health, cooking energy, income — and that prioritise rural areas, the interior and the less educated, the return of GDP risks being a recovery with no one recovered. Reducing lived poverty requires prioritising the essential goods whose absence worsened most (starting with water), protecting the purchasing power of the most vulnerable, and measuring policy success by what changes on families' tables.