This global dataset of regions at the frontlines of cooling poverty risk includes five different files: (1) Global cooling demand in People-CDDs at ~1 km resolution (GeoTIFF), quantifying population-weighted cooling degree days by combining climate observations with gridded population data; (2) Global ability to access cooling in $/CDD per capita (PPP-adjusted) at ~10 km resolution (geoTIFF), estimating the economic capacity of populations to afford cooling by integrating GDP per capita with heat exposure; Population at the frontlines of cooling poverty risk at ~10 km resolution (geoTIFF), with two separate maps that identify populations (3) at high risk and (4) at extreme risk of cooling poverty by combining cooling demand, affordability constraints, and electricity costs; and (5) Summary of results by country in Excel, providing aggregated national-level indicators including total People-CDDs, economic capacity to afford cooling, and the population at high and extreme risk. Together, these datasets provide a global, spatially detailed estimate of cooling poverty risk under present-day climate conditions. Further information regarding the data sources and methods used to produce these datasets is available in the corresponding scientific article.