In June 2025, Washington, D.C., United States of America (USA) based World Bank has released the Global Poverty Revisited Using 2021 PPPs and New Data on Consumption, raising the International Poverty Line (IPL) threshold to USD 3 per day (calculated using 2021 prices) from the earlier USD 2.15 per day (calculated using 2017 prices) for Low-Income Countries.
- India’s extreme poverty rate dropped significantly from 27.1% (344.47 million people) in 2011–12 to 5.3% (75.24 million people) in 2022–23, indicating that approximately 269 million people moved out of extreme poverty during this period.
About International Poverty Line (IPL):
i.The World bank introduced IPL in 1990 to standardize poverty measurement across countries. It enables cross-country comparisons using Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) exchange rates.
ii.The IPL represents the minimum expenditure required to afford basic necessities like food, clothing, and shelter.
iii.It adjusts for price differences between nations using PPP, ensuring fair comparisons of living standards.
Key Highlights:
i.Five states of India such as Uttar Pradesh (UP), Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal (WB) and Madhya Pradesh (MP), which previously had 65% of India’s extreme poor in 2011-12, were responsible for two-thirds of the total reduction in extreme poverty by 2022-23.
ii.As per the report, over 54 million people in India lived on less than USD 3 per day in 2024, marking the poverty rate at USD 3 per day (2021 Percentage Population, PPP) at 5.44% in 2024.
iii.As per the previous USD 2.15 poverty threshold, the proportion of Indians experiencing extreme poverty decreased to 2.3% in 2022-23, compared to 16.2% in 2011-12.
iv.World Bank has adjusted its IPL for Lower-Middle-Income Country (LMIC) poverty threshold to USD 4.20 per day, increased from USD 3.65 per day, and for Upper Middle-Income Countries (UMIC) it is raised to USD 8.40 per day to USD 6.85 per day.
v.During the period (from 2011-12 to 2022-23) the absolute number of people under the LMIC threshold reduced substantially from 732.48 million to 342.32 million.
vi.As per the report, the Current Account Deficit (CAD) is expected to average around 1.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the Financial Year 2026-28 (FY28) and remain adequately financed by capital inflows.
- The Foreign Exchange (Forex) Reserves are projected to remain stable at around 16% of GDP.
vii.The extreme poverty dropped from 18.4% to 2.8% and urban from 10.7% to 1.1%, narrowing the rural-urban gap from 7.7% to 1.7%.
About World Bank:
President – Ajay Banga
Headquarters – Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)
Established – 1944
