Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi
New Delhi, Apr 26: India has achieved a significant milestone in its efforts to combat poverty, with 171 million people moving out of extreme poverty, according to the World Bank’s Spring 2025 Poverty and Equity Brief.
The report commended India’s targeted welfare programmes, major economic reforms, and improved access to essential services, which have collectively driven substantial progress in poverty reduction across both rural and urban regions.
Extreme poverty in rural India declined from 18.4 per cent in 2011-12 to 2.8 per cent in 2022-23, while in urban areas, the rate dropped from 10.7 per cent to just 1.1 per cent over the same period. The rural-urban poverty gap narrowed significantly from 7.7 percentage points to 1.7 percentage points, reflecting a consistent annual decline rate of 16 per cent over the last decade.
At the lower-middle-income level, rural poverty fell from 69 per cent to 32.5 per cent, while urban poverty dropped from 43.5 per cent to 17.2 per cent between 2011-12 and 2022-23. The rural-urban gap in this category also saw a notable reduction, narrowing from 25 to 15 percentage points with a 7 per cent annual decline.
The World Bank report emphasized the vital role played by the five most populous states — Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh — which together contributed two-thirds of the overall decline in extreme poverty. In 2011-12, these states accounted for 65 per cent of India's extremely poor population, underlining the scale of their contribution to the nation's progress.
The report also noted improvements beyond monetary poverty, highlighting a rise in employment, especially among women, and a significant reduction in multidimensional poverty, indicating broader gains in living standards across the country.
The Poverty and Equity Briefs are published twice a year during the Spring and Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund, providing updated snapshots of poverty and inequality trends for over 100 developing countries.