The Best Poverty, Aid & Development Documentaries

World Affairs & Investigations - 30 free documentaries about poverty, aid & development.

Start with How to save 51 billion lives for 68 cents with simple Engineering (8 min, Mark Rober), then How Do I Raise My Kids in Extreme Poverty? (58 min, Real Stories). All 30 documentaries here are free to watch from their makers' official uploads. To read deeper, the top-rated book on poverty, aid & development is Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee.

• How to save 51 billion lives for 68 cents with simple Engineering (8 min, Mark Rober)
• How Do I Raise My Kids in Extreme Poverty? (58 min, Real Stories)
• Poverty, Politics and Profit (53 min, FRONTLINE PBS)
• They Cook And Serve 3,000 Meals For Free Every Day | Eat Up | On The Red Dot (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Katrina's Forgotten Victims: The Stranded at Charity Hospital (63 min, Real Stories)
• Chicago: A History of Violence, Poverty and Prejudice (54 min, ENDEVR)
• Unreported World: Fleeing Poverty in Venezuela & One Way Ticket to Gangland in El Salvador (48 min, Free Documentary)
• Fighting Food Poverty with Britain's Busiest Food Banks (30 min, VICE)
• Pure luxury or bitter poverty - Living on a roof (26 min, DW Documentary)
• Poverty in the USA: A Chronicle (150 min, ENDEVR)
• Sudan: The world's biggest humanitarian crisis (52 min, DW Documentary)
• Honduras: Escaping violence and poverty (42 min, DW Documentary)
• Born on the Breadline (88 min, Real Stories)
• This Mega-Development Was Built on an Active Railway (9 min, The B1M)
• Venezuela: Humanitarian crisis and the fight for power (28 min, DW Documentary)
• Delivering Aid To Afghanistan: Honeymoon in Kabul (57 min, Real Stories)
• The White Slums of South Africa: Surviving Poverty and Hunger (50 min, ENDEVR)
• The Charity BUSINESS | The Profitable Trade of Donations | Cheap Clothes High Prices (59 min, Moconomy)
• Disaster Capitalism | Crisis, Cash & Corruption | When Aid Becomes Big Business (52 min, Moconomy)
• Africa Rising (51 min, Real Stories)
• Donald Trump & the Ethics of Foreign Aid (24 min, Real Stories)
• Charity: how effective is giving? (26 min, The Economist)
• Profiting from Disaster: The Dark Side of Aid (52 min, ENDEVR)
• VICE Meets British Politician and Humanitarian David Miliband (24 min, VICE)
• USAID On Hold: Global Impact Of Trump & Musk's US Government Budget Overhaul (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Can Philippines’ Marine Paradise Survive Development & The Next Crisis At Sea? (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Behind The Scenes Of The President’s Star Charity | On The Red Dot (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Arrest development: South Korea’s Yoon held (23 min, The Economist)
• Buck off: US pauses Ukraine aid (23 min, The Economist)
• Pier pressure: a visit to Gaza’s aid platform (28 min, The Economist)

Top-Rated Books About Poverty, Aid & Development

1. Poor Economics by Abhijit Banerjee (4/5) - View on Amazon
2. Factfulness by Hans Rosling (4.4/5) - View on Amazon
3. The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs - View on Amazon
4. Evicted by Matthew Desmond (4.4/5) - View on Amazon