In April 2025, the World Bank reported that India made strong progress in cutting down poverty between 2011-12 and 2022-23. During this time, about 170 million people in the country were lifted out of poverty.
Recent data shows that India has made significant progress in reducing extreme poverty. Just 10 years ago, approximately 27% of the population was living in extreme poverty and were earning less than $3 a day. Today, that figure has dropped to 5%, which is roughly 70 million people. This shows a major improvement in the country’s efforts to fight poverty.
However, the World Bank says that moving out of extreme poverty doesn’t mean people are living well. The World Bank says that to live a life with basic dignity, a person needs at least $4.20 a day (adjusted for the cost of living in different countries. That means $4.20 doesn’t have the same value in every country—it depends on how much things cost where a person lives. It’s about being able to afford the same basic things like food, clothes, and shelter, no matter which country they live. This amount is called the lower-middle-income poverty line. Using this more realistic standard, about one in four people in India, over 35 crore, still don’t make or spend enough money to cover their basic needs, such as: nutritious food, safe and decent housing, healthcare and education.
India hasn’t officially updated its national poverty line since 2011–12. But newer surveys and global methods (like Multidimensional Poverty Index), which looks at things like electricity, clean water, and education—show that many people have moved out of poverty. Still, many people are barely managing to meet their daily needs. In cities life is hard because of high rent and unstable jobs while in villages incomes are often low and depend on the season.
As always, income inequality remains a major issue in India. The richest 1% of Indians own over 40% of the country’s wealth, while the poorest half of the population—50% of all Indians—together own just 6.4% of the wealth.
The definition of poverty needs to change and should go beyond just meeting basic survival needs. It should also mean to live with dignity in today’s India which include food, clean water, healthcare, education stable job and safe home. People should be able to live a decent and respectful life.
