It is hard to describe what 'absolute poverty' means, but these people all live in desperate circumstances. They have no real homes. In cities, they sleep rough or crowd into dirty shacks with no water, no light or heat, and no drains. They never have enough to eat or drink. They suffer from disease.
Children die young.
In Zambia, for instance, children are 20 times more likely to die before the age of ten than in Germany. Some 450 million people are starving or badly nourished. Millions die every year from lack of food, or from disease brought on by lack of food in countries such as Ethiopia and Somalia. Many economists insist the North is rich because of its industries. So countries in the South have been encouraged to borrow money to develop industries of their own.