World Bank: poverty at $4.20 a day fell from 57.7 to 16.1 per cent of Indians between 2011 and 2023

LeadPrelims and Mains31 Oct 2026

Why in news

In October 2026 the World Bank's Poverty and Equity Brief for India said the country had made "remarkable progress" against poverty.
The share of Indians living below the $4.20 a day line fell from 57.7 per cent in 2011 to 16.1 per cent in 2023. About 49.6 crore people crossed the line in twelve years.
Extreme poverty, measured at $3.00 a day, fell from 27.1 per cent to 2.6 per cent over the same period.

India has had no official poverty line since the Tendulkar line of 2009. The Rangarajan committee proposed a higher line in 2014. The government never adopted it. Since then the World Bank's lines, fixed in purchasing power parity dollars, and the Multidimensional Poverty Index have filled the gap. The table sets out the four counts.
The Bank's estimates rest on the Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys. The long gap in Indian surveys between 2011-12 and 2022-23 is why the comparison runs from 2011 to 2023.

Four ways India's poverty is counted	Who computes it	What it measures	Latest figure
Tendulkar line, 2009	The government, the official line	Consumption below a rupee line	21.9 per cent poor in 2011-12. No update since.
$3.00 a day	World Bank	Extreme poverty, the typical line of the poorest countries, at 2021 purchasing power parity	27.1 per cent in 2011 to 2.6 per cent in 2023
$4.20 a day	World Bank	The typical line of lower middle income countries such as India, at 2021 parity	57.7 per cent in 2011 to 16.1 per cent in 2023. Projected 12.1 per cent by 2028.
Multidimensional Poverty Index	United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative	Deprivation in at least a third of ten indicators of health, education and living standards, not income	53.8 per cent in 2005-06 to 16.4 per cent in 2019-21

The fall is steep on every line, but the lines differ in what they show.
On the $3.00 line India has almost ended extreme poverty. On the $4.20 line one Indian in six is still poor.

The line decides the story. The same survey gives 2.6 per cent or 16.1 per cent, and neither is wrong.

The $3.00 line measures destitution, which India has nearly ended.
The $4.20 line measures the standard a lower middle income country sets for itself. India should judge itself by that line.

The near poor are the next question. A large share of the population sits just above $4.20 a day. A drought, a spell of inflation or an illness in the family pushes those households back. The 5.54 per cent inflation of the same month is exactly such a shock.
Growth and transfers must both continue. The government credits consumption growth, more employment, especially of women, and social transfers such as the food subsidy, which reaches about 81 crore people under the National Food Security Act, 2013. The projection to 2028 holds only if both continue.
Jobs without productivity limit the gain. The study on farm workers in the same month found that most of those who left farming entered informal work no more productive than farming. Poverty falls when people move, but incomes rise only when they move to better work.
India needs its own line again. A country that measures poverty only by a foreign institution's line, on a survey it ran once a decade until 2022-23, cannot target its schemes well.

Adopt an official poverty line on the 2022-23 and 2023-24 consumption surveys. Run the survey every year.
Keep social protection for the near poor, with pensions and the employment guarantee indexed to prices.
Count the vulnerable as well as the poor: how many households sit within a small margin above the line.

Prelims:
- World Bank lines: $3.00 a day for extreme poverty, $4.20 a day for lower middle income countries, both at 2021 purchasing power parity.
- Poverty at $4.20: 57.7 per cent in 2011 to 16.1 per cent in 2023; about 49.6 crore people crossed the line.
- Extreme poverty at $3.00: 27.1 to 2.6 per cent.
- Projection: 12.1 per cent at $4.20 by 2028.
- Multidimensional Poverty Index: United Nations Development Programme with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative; 53.8 per cent in 2005-06 to 16.4 per cent in 2019-21.
- India's last official line is the Tendulkar line of 2009; the Rangarajan committee of 2014 was not adopted.

Mains: "India has reduced extreme poverty, but vulnerability remains high." Discuss in the light of the World Bank's 2026 Poverty and Equity Brief.

Show the questions

Prelims 2026: Consider the following statements about Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI): 1. MPI is calculated using Alkire-Foster methodology. 2. MPI calculated by NITI Aayog has a total of twelve indicators. 3. Maternal Health and Bank Account are common indicators in the MPI of NITI Aayog and MPI of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Mains 2018 GS1: 'Despite implementation of various programmes for eradication of poverty by the government in India, poverty is still existing.' Explain by giving reasons.
Mains 2020 GS2: "The incidence and intensity of poverty are more important in determining poverty based on income alone." In this context analyze the latest United Nations Multidimensional Poverty Index Report.

Sources

Settled facts (dates of Acts, constitutional provisions, standing definitions) are from standard references.