India made ‘remarkable progress’ in reducing poverty, says World Bank, Pg1

Key Highlights:

• The World Bank reported that India made "remarkable progress" in reducing poverty across monetary and non-monetary dimensions over the last decade.
• The share of the population living below the Lower Middle-Income Country line ($4.2/day) fell from 57.7% in 2011 to 16.1% in 2023, lifting 496 million people out of poverty.
• Extreme poverty ($3.00/day) in India declined significantly from 27.1% to 2.6% between 2011 and 2023.
• The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), as measured by OPHI, decreased sharply from 53.8% in 2005-06 to 16.4% in 2019-21.
• Employment increased by approximately 134 million people between 2017 and 2023, largely driven by rural women entering paid work.
• Challenges persist, including pronounced wage disparities and poverty concentrated geographically in a belt from Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal.

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Detailed Insights:

• The findings were released in the World Bank's October 2026 Poverty and Equity Brief for India, highlighting one of the fastest poverty reductions globally.
• The report projects a continued, albeit more gradual, decline in poverty across India in the coming years.
• Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attributed the progress to strong consumption growth, rising employment, especially among women, and expanded social transfers like food subsidies.
• Despite overall employment growth, youth unemployment rose from 14.6% to 15.9% between Q1 FY2026 and Q1 FY2027, particularly affecting rural young women.
• The geographical concentration of poverty, with 57% of India’s poor residing in the Uttar Pradesh-West Bengal belt, underscores regional disparities.
• The World Bank MPI measure stood at 15.5% in 2022-23, further confirming the non-monetary poverty reduction trend.

Key Concepts Involved:

• World Bank: An international financial institution that provides financial and technical assistance to developing countries worldwide.
• Lower Middle-Income Country line: A global poverty threshold set by the World Bank at $4.2 per day, used to measure poverty in lower-middle-income economies.
• Extreme poverty: A global poverty line defined by the World Bank at $3.00 per day, indicating severe material deprivation.
• Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI): A measure developed by OPHI and UNDP that assesses poverty across multiple deprivations in health, education, and living standards.