Significant Decline in Extreme Poverty in India, but Wealth Gap Persists

According to a recent 'Poverty and Equity' brief report by the World Bank, India has shown the fastest progress in the world in reducing extreme income-based poverty. The report states that approximately 49.6 crore people emerged from poverty during the period from 2011 to 2023. During this time, the proportion of extreme poor people with an income of less than 3 dollars per day has decreased to 2.6%.

Providing information on the gap between the rich and the poor, the report noted that the share of people living below the lower-middle-income country line (4.20 dollars per day, 2021 PPP) has decreased from 57.7% to 16.1%. Additionally, considering not only financial but other aspects, a significant reduction in poverty has also been observed according to OPHI's Multi-dimensional Poverty Index. According to this index, the total poverty proportion was 53.8% in 2005-06, which decreased to 16.4% in 2019-21.

India is a country located in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country in the world by area and the most populous country in terms of population. To the south of India lies the Indian Ocean, to the south-west the Arabian Sea, and to the south-east the Bay of Bengal. Its borders are shared with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north, and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is located close to Sri Lanka and Maldives.