In a significant feat, India has made key strides in the last decade in reducing its extreme poverty rate, which fell to 5.3 per cent in 2022-23 from 27.1 per cent in 2011-12, latest World Bank data has revealed. About 75.24 million people were living in extreme poverty in India during 2022-23, a massive drop from 344.47 million in 2011-12.According to the World Bank data, this means 269 million individuals were lifted out of extreme poverty over approximately 11 years. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, which collectively accounted for 65 per cent of India’s extreme poor in 2011-12, contributed to two-thirds of the overall decline in extreme poverty by 2022-23.
“In absolute terms, people living in extreme poverty fell from 344.47 million to just 75.24 million,” showed latest data from the World Bank. 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. At $2.15 daily consumption – the earlier poverty line based on 2017 prices – the share of Indians living in extreme poverty is 2.3 per cent, which is significantly lower than 16.2 per cent in 2011-12, according to the World Bank’s estimates.