In April 2025, Washington DC (the United States of America, USA)-based World Bank (WB) released its latest report titled ‘India Poverty and Equity Brief : April 2025’. As per the report, India’s extreme poverty (defined as living on less than USD 2.15 per day) has dropped significantly from 16.2% (in 2011-12) to 2.3% (in 2022-23).
- The report further showed that 17.1 crore people have been lifted out of extreme poverty, and 37.8 crore have moved above the broader poverty line during this period.
- The report highlighted that India has made significant strides in poverty reduction and employment growth has outpaced the working-age population since 2021-22.
Key Findings Related to India’s Poverty Rate:
i.Also, India has moved into the ‘Lower-Middle-Income’ category. The report has used USD 3.65 per day as poverty line for Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) due to which the poverty rate decreased from 61.8% to 28.1%, lifting 378 million out of poverty.
ii.The report showed that the decline rate in India’s extreme poverty line was highest in rural areas of the country, where it dropped from 18.4% to 2.8%.
- While, urban extreme poverty decreased from 10.7% to 1.1% which narrows the rural-urban poverty gap from 7.7% to just 1.7%, which reflects 16% Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) decrease.
iii.As per the report, rural poverty decreased from 69% to 32.5%, and urban poverty has also decreased from 43.5% to 17.2%, which further helps in reducing the rural-urban gap from 25% to 15%.
iv.5 Indian states: Uttar Pradesh (UP), Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal (WB), and Madhya Pradesh (MP) accounted for 65% of India’s extreme poor in 2011-12.
- These states contributed 66.66% (2/3rd) of the overall decline in extreme poverty by 2022-23, but, they still accounted for 54% of country’s extremely poor (2022-23) and 51% of the multi-dimensionally poor (2019-21).
v.The report revealed that India’s non-monetary poverty, measured by the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) has decreased from 53.8% (in 2005-06) to 16.4% by 2019-21
Key Findings related to India’s Employment:
i.As per the World Bank’s report, India’s employment rates, especially among women, are increasing, and urban unemployment dropped to 6.6% in 1st Quarter (Q1: April to June) of Financial Year 2024-25 (FY25), the lowest since 2017-18.
ii.The report showed that female employment rate stands at 31%, increasing particularly in rural agriculture even though gender disparities exist, with 234 million more men than women in paid work.
iii.The report has outlined certain challenges that persists like: Youth employment rate stands at 13.3%, increasing sharply to 29% among college-educated youth.
- Only 23% of non-farm paid jobs are formal, and most agricultural employment remains informal.
- The report highlighted the trend of increasing self-employment, especially among rural workers and women.
Other Key Findings:
i.As per the report, Multidimensional Poverty Measure (MPM) has decreased from 53.8% (in 2005-06) to 15.5% (in 2022-23).
- The report highlighted nearly 30% of the population lacks access to limited standard sanitation, and 13.8% of adults have not completed primary education.
- Still, 29.9% of the population lacks access to limited-standard sanitation, and 13.8% of adults have not completed primary education.
- Only 1% of the population lacks access to electricity
- 11.2% lack access to improved drinking water sources
- 14.9% poverty rate among those with tertiary education versus 35.1% among those without formal education.
ii.The report showed that Gini index on consumption inequality, has increased marginally from 28.8 (2011-12) to 25.5 (2022-23).
iii.The report cautioned that poverty estimates may vary with updated poverty lines. If the extreme poverty line is changed to USD 3.0 per day and LMICs line to USD 4.20 per day, then India’s poverty rates for 2022-23 would be adjusted to 5.3% and 23.9%, respectively.
About World Bank (WB):
President– Ajay Banga
Headquarters– Washington, DC, the United States of America (USA)
Established– 1944
