In the last 10-12 years, India has made a new record on the front of poverty alleviation. The pace of poverty reduction in the last decade has been the fastest in the world. In the 12 years between 2011 and 2023, about 49.6 crore people in the country have come out of poverty. According to the World Bank’s India Poverty and Equity Brief report, there has been a huge increase in poverty reduction in India. In the year 2011, 57.7% of the country’s population was living below the poverty line of lower middle income countries. At the same time, in the year 2023 this figure will come down to only 16.1%.
There was also a big decline in extreme poverty
According to the report, the number of people living in extreme poverty i.e. living on less than 3 dollars (about ₹ 250) per day was 27.1% in 2011, which has reduced to just 2.6% in 2023. This shows that in the last 12 years, the number of people with very low income in the country has also decreased significantly.
Along with earning, the standard of living also improves.
Poverty in India has reduced not only on the basis of income but also on the basis of facilities like education, health and standard of living. According to Oxford’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (OPHI), in 2005-06, 53.8% of India’s population was in multidimensional poverty. By 2019-21 it decreased to 16.4%. At the same time, according to the World Bank’s own multidimensional poverty measurement, the rate of multidimensional poverty in India was 15.5% in 2022-23.
13 times difference between the earnings of the rich and the poor of the country
However, the biggest thing is that despite poverty reducing, there has not been equality in earnings. Despite poverty reducing, there remains a huge gap between the earnings of the rich and the poor. According to the World Bank’s October 2026 India Poverty and Equity Brief report, the country’s richest 10% workers earn on average 13 times more than the poorest 10%.
Along with reducing poverty, the report also draws attention to the challenges related to employment and earnings. Quality of employment, increase in wages and access to economic opportunities are still big challenges in the country.
Source: ndtv.in
