New Delhi: The extreme poverty rate in India has witnessed a sharp decline from 27.1% in 2011-12 to 5.3% in 2922-23. This is as per latest World Bank estimates.
What this effectively means is that 269 million people rose above the international poverty line over the last 11 years. The report states that the number of people living in extreme poverty dropped from 344.47 million to 75.24 million, based on the $3.00 per day poverty line (in 2021 PPP terms).
The five states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh – had the highest number of poor in 2011-12. Together, they contributed to nearly two-thirds of the poverty reduction by 2022-23.
The World Bank also reports that rural extreme poverty in India fell from 18.4 per cent to 2.8 per cent, while urban extreme poverty dropped from 10.7 per cent to 1.1 per cent over the same period.
Using the earlier $2.15 per day poverty line (based on 2017 prices), the extreme poverty rate fell from 16.2 per cent in 2011-12 to 2.3 per cent in 2022. In absolute numbers, the population living below this line decreased from 205.93 million to 33.66 million.
The World Bank data also showed progress in multidimensional poverty. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was at 53.8 per cent in 2005-06. It fell to 16.4 per cent in 2019-21 and further to 15.5 per cent in 2022-23.
