The World Bank has released poverty and equity brief for Vasant 2025, highlighting India’s progress in poverty reduction in the last decade. This report is part of a chain that provides updates on the trends of poverty, shared prosperity and inequality in more than 100 developing countries. These briefs are published twice in the spring and annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund and are an important source for understanding poverty patterns worldwide.
India excludes millions of people from extreme poverty
One of the most important conclusions of the Spring 2025 report is India’s success in reducing extreme poverty. Between 2011-12 and 2022-23, India excluded about 171 million people from extreme poverty. It is based on $ 2.15 per day on the International Poverty Line of the World Bank.
In terms of percentage, the national extreme poverty rate fell by 16.2 percent in 2011-12 to just 2.3 percent in 2022-23. The rural areas saw a decline of 18.4 percent to 2.8 percent, while urban areas saw a decline of 10.7 percent to 1.1 percent. As a result, the rural-urban gap in excessive poverty became quite compressed from 7.7 to 1.7 percentage points.
Strong decline in lower-medium-oriented poverty
The report also measures poverty using the World Bank’s low-medium-oriented poverty line, which is defined as living less than $ 3.65 per day. Under this remedy, India saw a major decline in poverty from 61.8 percent in 2011-12, 28.1 percent in 2022–23, which means about 378 million people were removed from poverty during the decade.
Under this line, rural poverty declined from 69 percent to 32.5 percent, while urban poverty fell from 43.5 percent to 17.2 percent. The gap between rural and urban poverty has also decreased, which is ranging from 25 percent to 15 percent marks, which shows more balanced growth in areas.
Major states running progress
Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh played an important role in this decline. Back in 2011-12, these states had 65 percent of the country’s extreme poor. By 2022-23, he contributed to two-thirds of the total reduction in excessive poverty across India.
The report also states that it is still responsible for 54 percent of the poor in the same states in the same states in 2022-23, and in 2019-21, 51 percent of the poor, showing that the progress is strong, challenges.
Poverty rates modified using 2021 PPP
Spring 2025 brief 2021 also provides updated estimates using purchasing power traits (PPP), which adjust to the cost of the difference between countries. This update number reflects a more realistic global comparison and helps policy makers in a better plan for the future. According to these new data, excessive poverty is estimated in India for 2022-23.
