The economic state of developing countries and their problems directly affect the vast majority of humanity. This subsystem includes all Asian countries, except Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Israel, all African countries, excluding South Africa, as well as Latin American countries. They are characterized by an extremely variegated appearance, different conditions and levels of social and economic development. At the same time, there are a number of characteristics that unite developing countries into a special group of states. One of the most important criteria for identifying developing countries as a separate world subsystem is their similar economic problems, in particular, underdevelopment, backwardness and massive poverty of the population. The relevance of this topic is determined by the fact that currently the problem of poverty in developing countries has become global in nature and is one of the main problems of humanity. Large scales of poverty in developing countries pose a serious danger not only to national but also to global sustainable development. Social tension generated by backwardness and poverty multiplies conflicts in the developing world and increases the danger of international terrorism. The purpose of the work is to study the essence of the problem of poverty in developing countries and find optimal ways to overcome it.