In a statement, the World Bank said the decrease is “giving fresh evidence that a quarter-century-long sustained reduction in poverty is moving the world closer to the historic goal of ending poverty by 2030.”

The decline from 12.8 percent of the global population in extreme poverty in 2012 means that, in three years, about 200 million people have escaped extreme poverty, though 702 million remain. In 1990, 1.9 billion people lived below $1.90 a day.

World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim cited strong growth rates, along with investment in education, health, and social-safety nets in developing countries, have driven the improvements.

“With these strategies in place, the world stands a vastly better chance of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and raising the life prospects of low-income families,” Kim said.

The largest gains have come from economic growth in China. Poverty remains concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia; in 1990, East Asia accounted for half of the global poor, but today, only 12 percent are in East Asia.

“Development has been robust over the last two decades but the protracted global slowdown since the financial crisis of 2008, is beginning to cast its shadow on emerging economies,” World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu said.

The World Bank emphasized that their measure is only one of many important ones in tracking global poverty and economic growth. Additionally, the Middle East and North Africa isn’t included in its analysis because of “conflict and fragility in key countries in the region,” as well as a lack of reliable current poverty data.

Great strides in economic growth and individual well-being have been made, especially in China. However, economic data in China isn’t always reliable, and conflict and fragility can erase progress in fighting poverty in the poorest regions of the world.

Chinese economic growth has been described as a “miracle.” American trade with China grew from $8.7 billion in exports and $27.7 billion in imports in 1990 to $124 billion in exports and $468 billion in imports in 2014, according to the Census Bureau. That’s an astonishing 1,425 percent growth in exports and 1,690 percent growth in imports that has vastly improved the well-being of hundreds of millions of Chinese citizens.

“There is some turbulence ahead… which will create new challenges in the fight to end poverty and attend to the needs of the vulnerable, especially those living at the bottom 40 percent of their societies,” Basu said.

The progress in reducing poverty and growing markets isn’t always assured.