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NEW DELHI – In a significant development highlighted by the World Bank, India has successfully lifted 171 million people out of extreme poverty between 2011-12 and 2022-23. This achievement is detailed in the World Bank’s Spring 2025 Poverty and Equity Brief (PEB), showcasing one of the most substantial poverty reductions globally over the past decade.
The report, citing data referenced by India’s Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, reveals a dramatic fall in the proportion of Indians living below the international extreme poverty line of $2.15 per day. This figure plummeted from 16.2 percent in 2011-12 to just 2.3 percent in 2022-23.
The World Bank attributes this success to the Government of India’s focused commitment to inclusive development. Targeted welfare programs, economic reforms, and improved access to essential services in both rural and urban areas have been instrumental in driving down poverty levels and narrowing the poverty gap across the country. The PEBs, published twice yearly, provide crucial data on poverty, shared prosperity, and inequality trends in developing nations using both national and international poverty benchmarks, including multidimensional measures.
The reduction in extreme poverty has been widespread. In rural India, the rate fell from 18.4 percent to 2.8 percent over the period, while urban areas saw a decline from 10.7 percent to 1.1 percent. Consequently, the gap between rural and urban extreme poverty significantly shrank from 7.7 percentage points to 1.7 percentage points, indicating an impressive annual decline rate of 16 percent.
India also demonstrated strong progress in reducing poverty at the lower-middle-income line, set at $3.65 per day. The poverty rate at this level decreased from 61.8 percent in 2011-12 to 28.1 percent in 2022-23, effectively lifting 378 million people above this threshold. Rural poverty at this level dropped from 69 percent to 32.5 percent, and urban poverty fell from 43.5 percent to 17.2 percent. The rural-urban gap at this level also narrowed substantially, from 25 to 15 percentage points.
Several key states were major contributors to this national success. Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh, which collectively housed 65 percent of India’s extreme poor in 2011-12, accounted for two-thirds of the total reduction in extreme poverty by 2022-23.
Beyond monetary measures, India has also made significant strides in tackling non-monetary or multidimensional poverty, which encompasses factors like education, health, and living conditions. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) showed a decline from 53.8 percent in 2005-06 to 16.4 percent by 2019-21. The World Bank’s own Multidimensional Poverty Measure estimated this figure at 15.5 percent in 2022-23.
Furthermore, income inequality, measured by the consumption-based Gini index, saw improvement, decreasing from 28.8 in 2011-12 to 25.5 in 2022-23. Positive trends were also observed in the labour market, with employment growth outpacing working-age population growth since 2021-22. Employment rates, particularly for women, have increased, and urban unemployment reached its lowest point since 2017-18 in the first quarter of FY24/25, standing at 6.6 percent. Data also indicates a recent shift of male workers from rural to urban areas and growth in rural female employment in agriculture, alongside a rise in self-employment.
The World Bank’s Spring 2025 brief underscores India’s remarkable progress over the last decade, highlighting effective government interventions that have substantially reduced poverty, narrowed disparities, improved living standards, and boosted employment, setting a strong foundation for future inclusive growth.
Disclaimer: This news article is based on information provided regarding the World Bank’s Spring 2025 Poverty and Equity Brief. While efforts have been made to accurately represent the source material, readers are encouraged to consult the original World Bank report for comprehensive details, methodology, and context.
