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Only 75.24 million people were living in extreme poverty in India during 2022-23, a drastic reduction from 344.47 million in 2011-12, according to the data
The World Bank’s assessment, based on the $3.00 per day international poverty line (using 2021 prices), shows a broad-based reduction across both rural and urban areas. (Representational Image: PTI)
India has made significant strides in reducing its extreme poverty rate, which fell to 5.3% in 2022–23 from 27.1% in 2011–12, according to updated World Bank data. This remarkable decline signals a transformative shift in the country’s economic landscape over the past decade.
The figures are noteworthy: only 75.24 million people were living in extreme poverty in India during 2022–23, a drastic reduction from 344.47 million in 2011–12. This indicates that 269 million individuals were lifted out of extreme poverty over approximately 11 years. Such progress highlights the effectiveness of government initiatives, economic reforms, and improved access to essential services, say analysts.
The World Bank’s assessment, based on the $3.00 per day international poverty line (using 2021 prices), shows a broad-based reduction across both rural and urban areas. While the overall extreme poverty rate fell to 5.3%, if measured by the earlier $2.15 poverty rate (based on 2017 prices), only 2.3% of the Indian population lived in extreme poverty in 2022–23, down from 16.2% in 2011–12. This effectively lifted 171 million people above that specific poverty line.
This sharp decline was uniformly observed, with rural extreme poverty falling from 18.4% to 2.8% and urban extreme poverty reducing from 10.7% to 1.1% between 2011–12 and 2022–23. The narrowing gap between rural and urban poverty indicates that the benefits of economic growth have reached various segments of the population.
Key states contributed significantly to this success. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh, which collectively accounted for 65% of India’s extreme poor in 2011–12, contributed to two-thirds of the overall decline in extreme poverty by 2022–23. Beyond monetary poverty, India has also made remarkable progress in reducing multidimensional poverty, which considers factors such as education, health, and living standards. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) dropped from 53.8% in 2005–06 to 16.4% by 2019–21, further declining to 15.5% in 2022–23.
(With agency inputs)
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