India Records One of the Fastest Poverty Declines Globally; Extreme Poverty Falls to 2.6%: World Bank
In Short
The report estimates that 496 million people moved above the lower-middle-income poverty threshold of $4.20 per person per day, measured at 2021 purchasing power parity (PPP), between 2011 and 2023.
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India has recorded one of the fastest reductions in poverty globally
Bengaluru: India has recorded one of the fastest reductions in poverty globally, with extreme poverty falling from 27.1 per cent in 2011 to 2.6 per cent in 2023, according to the World Bank’s October 2026 Poverty and Equity Brief.
The report estimates that 496 million people moved above the lower-middle-income poverty threshold of $4.20 per person per day, measured at 2021 purchasing power parity (PPP), between 2011 and 2023. The proportion of the population living below this threshold declined from 57.7 per cent to 16.1 per cent during the period.
The decline was also reflected in the intermediate figures. Poverty at the $4.20 threshold stood at 23.9 per cent in 2022–23, before falling further to 16.1 per cent in 2023–24. Extreme poverty, measured at the $3-a-day threshold, declined from 5.3 per cent in 2022–23 to 2.6 per cent in 2023–24.
The World Bank has attributed the reduction to higher household consumption, increased employment, particularly among women, and expanded social transfers, including food subsidies. Employment grew by 13.4 crore between 2017 and 2023, nearly twice the increase in the working-age population, with rural women accounting for a significant share of the growth.
Government welfare measures, including food subsidies and direct benefit transfers, have also contributed to household support. Schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, PMAY-Gramin and PM-KISAN have formed part of the wider welfare framework during this period.
The latest figures follow an earlier phase of poverty reduction. Under the Tendulkar methodology, India's national poverty rate declined from 37.2 per cent in 2004–05 to 21.9 per cent in 2011–12. The latest World Bank estimates use international poverty thresholds and updated household consumption survey data, including the 2022–23 and 2023–24 Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys.
Despite the significant decline, the report points to continuing challenges, including youth unemployment, the quality and productivity of jobs, stagnant real earnings and regional concentration of poverty. A substantial share of those still below the poverty threshold live in the belt stretching from Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal.
The findings underline the scale of India's progress in reducing monetary poverty, while highlighting the need for better employment opportunities and sustained improvements in household incomes.
