To be "worse off" now than before means that your life and your general situation isn't as good as it used to be. When people say that someone is "worse off", they're usually talking about their financial situations, their safety, and their health.

You're no worse off now than you were when you started.

You don't always need to say what time periods you're talking about. For example:

Almost every change in the law makes some people better and other people worse off.

And "worse off" doesn't always compare the same things at two different times. You can compare two different groups with "worse off":

Africa is worse off than India, economically speaking.

You can also say "better off".