Overview

• India’s extreme poverty rate plunged to 5.3% in fiscal 2022-23 from 27.1% in 2011-12 under the World Bank’s revised $3-a-day poverty threshold.
• The absolute number of Indians in extreme poverty dropped from 344.5 million to 75.2 million, indicating 269 million people lifted above the poverty line.
• The World Bank’s shift to a $3-a-day line using 2021 PPPs would have raised global extreme poverty to 10.5%, yet India’s refined survey methods offset 125 million from the revised global count.
• Five states—Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh—accounted for 65% of extreme poor in 2011-12 and drove two-thirds of the national decline, though they still host over half of the remaining extreme poor.
• India’s Multidimensional Poverty Index fell to 15.5% in 2022-23 from 53.8% in 2005-06, reflecting gains in education, health and living standards complemented by schemes for employment, food subsidies and basic services.