World Bank: 17 crore people lifted out of poverty in India in 10 years

According to the World Bank, around 17.1 crore people in India were lifted out of the extreme poverty level in the last 10 years. The extreme poverty in the country fell from 16 per cent in 2011–12 to 2.3 per cent in 2022–23.

The World Bank, in its Poverty and Equity Briefs report, highlights the poverty trend in 100 countries, including India.

The report is released twice a year by the World Bank before the Spring and Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C, the United States of America.

Indicators used by the World Bank in its report 

The World Bank has used three standards for measuring poverty lines.

• Extreme poverty line category - a person earning less than $2.15 per day on the purchasing power parity in 2017.
• Poverty in the lower-middle income category  - a person earning less than $3.65 per day on the purchasing power parity (2017).
• Poverty in upper-middle-income category - a person earning less than $6.85 per day, based on purchasing power parity(2017).
• Multidimensional poverty assessments aim to measure the non-income-based dimensions of poverty. It encompasses a person’s access to health, education, and living standards, including water, sanitation, electricity, cooking fuel, and basic assets. 

Poverty Estimation of India in various categories 

Extreme Poverty Category 

• Extreme poverty (living on less than $2.15 per day) decreased from 16.2% in 2011-12 to 2.3% in 2022-23.
• 17.1 crore people were lifted above the poverty line.
• Rural extreme poverty decreased from 18.4% to 2.8% in the 2022-23 fiscal year.
• Urban Poverty dropped from 10.7 per cent to 1.1 per cent in 2022-23
• The rural-urban poverty gap declined from 7.7 percentage points in 2011-12 to 1.7 percentage points in 2022-23.

Poverty in the lower-middle income category

• Poverty rates fell from 61.8% in 2011-12 to 28.1% in 2022-23.
• During this period, 3.78 crore people were lifted out of poverty.
• During this period, the rural poverty declined from 69 per cent to 32.5 per cent, 
• Urban poverty dropped from 43.5 per cent to 17.2 per cent, 
• The rural-urban gap dropped from 25 to 15 percentage points during this period. 

Multidimensional Poverty Index

• India’s non-monetary poverty declined from 53.8% in 2005-06 to 15.5% in 2022-23. 

Contribution of the top 5 most populous states 

• The contribution of the top five most populous states of India - Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh - in the country’s extreme poverty declined from 65 percent in 2011-12 to 54 per cent in 2022-23.

Unemployment in India 

• According to the World Bank, since the 2021-22 fiscal year, employment growth has exceeded the growth in the working-age population.  
• For the first time since 2018-19, there has been a shift in the number of male workers from rural to urban areas.
• Self-employment among rural workers and women is increasing.
• The female employment rate was 31 per cent; however, gender disparities remain, with 234 million more men in paid work. 

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