Income in Colombia
The median income in Colombia is about $11 a day per person (2021 PPP dollars) — richer than 60% of everyone alive. Half of Colombia lives on less than that.
The world's own median person — about $7.73 a day — would stand in the bottom 37% of Colombia.
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The curve
Daily income per person, log scale, PPP dollars — the same curve the machine walks you across.
What it takes to stand where
Take-home income per person, in today's COP, at each point on the curve of Colombia (the machine's convention: household take-home divided by the people it supports).
| Richer than… | per year, per person | per day (PPP $) |
|---|---|---|
| 10% of Colombia | COP 2,415,069 | $3.10 |
| 25% of Colombia | COP 4,413,345 | $5.67 |
| 50% of Colombia | COP 8,219,026 | $11 |
| 75% of Colombia | COP 15,736,904 | $20 |
| 90% of Colombia | COP 29,915,698 | $38 |
| 99% of Colombia | COP 128,154,488 | $165 |
Rounded, never inflated: the machine floors "richer than" claims.
The four levels in Colombia
How much of Colombia and of the world lives on each of four income levels. The cuts are the World Bank's $3.00 (international poverty line) and $8.30 (upper-middle-income line), both 2021 PPP; the top cut, $33, is the machine's own, four times the $8.30 line. The objects are what an income on each level tends to buy across the world's surveys — not a description of any one country.
| Level | per day (PPP $) | What tends to come with it, worldwide | Colombia | World |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | under $3.00 | a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot | 9% | 13% |
| Level 2 | $3.00–$8.30 | a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance | 31% | 39% |
| Level 3 | $8.30–$33 | a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account | 48% | 32% |
| Level 4 | $33+ | a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap | 12% | 15% |
- Level 1 · under $3.00 a dayColombia 9% · World 13%a fire to cook on, water carried home from the well, everywhere on foot
- Level 2 · $3.00–$8.30 a dayColombia 31% · World 39%a bicycle, a gas canister for the stove, a tap within walking distance
- Level 3 · $8.30–$33 a dayColombia 48% · World 32%a motorbike, a gas stove, a bank account
- Level 4 · $33+ a dayColombia 12% · World 15%a car, a fridge, hot water from the tap
About 48% of Colombia lives on Level 3, between $8.30 and $33 a day per person; worldwide, about 32% of people do.
The line that moved
In Colombia, 16% lived under the $3.00 line at the 1992 survey; 8.5% at the 2024 one — a fall of 7 points in 32 years.
Share of Colombia under $3.00 a day (2021 prices) at each national survey, World Bank PIP via Our World in Data; the faint line is the world's.
Worldwide, the share under the World Bank's $3.00-a-day line fell from about 43% in 1990 to about 10% today (Our World in Data; the latest years are the Bank's nowcast). Where the lift came, it came the unglamorous way: wages, harvests, workshops.
Who earns what in Colombia
8 portraits, not payroll data: each stands roughly where that kind of work typically earns on the curve of Colombia.
| the lowest 10% | the earnings of a coffee picker in the eje cafetero — paid by the basket, mountain mornings |
|---|---|
| 10–25% | the earnings of a street vendor in Bogotá |
| 25–45% | the earnings of a bus driver on mountain roads |
| 45–65% | the earnings of a police officer |
| 65–82% | the earnings of a university lecturer |
| 82–93% | the earnings of a petroleum engineer |
| 93–98% | the earnings of a surgeon in Medellín |
| the highest 2% | the earnings of a flower-export magnate — your roses land in Miami by dawn |
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Where this comes from
The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform percentile distribution for Colombia (survey year 2024), in 2021 PPP dollars; incomes typed in today's money are deflated to 2021 prices with the national CPI and converted with the 2021 consumption-PPP factor. Snapshot fetched September 2026. Full methodology & honesty rules.
Neighbours on the curve
The countries whose median income sits nearest to Colombia's — and a few far from it, for scale.