129 Mn Indians Still Under Extreme Poverty, Down From 431 Mn In 1990: World Bank

Down from 431 million in 1990, the number of people living in extreme poverty (earning less than USD 2.15 or Rs 181 a day) in India has fallen to almost 129 million in 2024, according to a report by the World Bank. On the other hand, considering the higher poverty standard, more people are living on less than USD 6.85 (Rs 576) per day in 2024 than in 1990 in the country.

The report titled ‘Poverty, Prosperity and Planet: Pathways out of the Polycrisis’ stated, “In India alone, the number of extremely poor people fell from 431 million to 129 million over this period…In India, there are more people living on less than USD 6.85 in 2024 than in 1990, driven by population growth. The same is true for South Asia as a whole and also for Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa.”

However, the report has also mentioned that the data has not factored in the household consumption and expenditure survey (HCES) for 2022-23. It stated, “These new data sets are not reflected in the report, since the necessary analysis could not be completed in time. While the precise impact of adding these two data sets on global poverty is unclear at the time of this writing, key conclusions of the report are robust, such as the increasing concentration of extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa and fragile countries, and that extreme poverty eradication by 2030 is out of reach.”

The report stated that extreme poverty eradication will take longer than the original target date of 2030. It highlighted that extreme poverty in India was already projected to fall below 3 per cent by the end of this decade, so India’s contribution to global extreme poverty is projected to decline significantly over the next decade.

“These estimates are based on projections of growth in gross domestic product (GDP) per capita over the next decade, as well as historic growth rates. Even setting the extreme poverty rate in India in 2030 to zero, the global extreme poverty rate in 2030 would only fall from 7.31 to 6.72 per cent, still well above the 3 per cent target,” the report added.

The report shed light on the fact that while global extreme poverty fell significantly between 1990 and 2013, progress has slowed dramatically since then. It stated that from 1990 to 2013, the rate dropped from 37.9 to 11.5 per cent and 1.2 billion people exited extreme poverty. Thereafter, the pace of reduction slowed—even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. From 2013 to 2018, the extreme poverty rate decreased by only 2.8 percentage points. From 2018 on, the trend even reversed, as per the report.