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India has made remarkable strides at reducing poverty. Yet, 22 percent of the population or 270 million people are lives below the poverty line. Here, we profile the characteristics of the poor.

Since the 2000s, India has made remarkable progress in reducing absolute poverty. Between 2011 and 2015, more than 90 million people were lifted out of extreme poverty. However, the COVID-19 pandemic led India’s economy into a contraction of 7.3 percent in FY21, despite well-crafted fiscal and monetary policy support.

The Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) helps data users find historical and current information related to key development indicators such as poverty, inequality, and shared prosperity. In addition, PIP can be used for following trends and monitoring progress towards development targets. The platform reports national, regional, and global estimates.

Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of population) India Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines (% of population) - India World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform. Data are compiled from official government sources or are computed by World Bank staff using national ( i.e. country–specific ) poverty lines.

The Multidimensional Poverty Measure ( MPM) seeks to understand poverty beyond monetary deprivations (which remain the focal point of the World Bank’s monitoring of global poverty) by including access to education and basic infrastructure along with the monetary headcount ratio at the $2.15 international poverty line.

Country Profile. IBRD/IDA Operations Approved by Fiscal Year. $859.50 million. FY 2018. New and Supplemental Projects by Fiscal Year. 6. FY 2018. Summary of IBRD Loans. Disbursed as of May 31, 2022.

The Poverty and Shared Prosperity report 2022, to be launched in October 2022, will analyze these trends in further detail. It will also include updated estimates of global poverty during the COVID-19 pandemic, nowcasts to 2022, and projections to 2030. Today’s PIP update also improves the platform’s functionality.

By 2030, the global poverty rate could be about 7%. Increasing numbers of urban dwellers are expected to fall into extreme poverty, which has traditionally affected people in rural areas. Progress was slowing even before the COVID-19 crisis. New global poverty data for 2017 show that 52 million people rose out of poverty between 2015 and 2017.

The 5 countries with the highest number of extreme poor are (in descending order): India, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh. They also happen to be the most populous countries of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, the two regions that together account for 85 percent (629 million) of the world’s poor.

In Latin America, poverty has largely stagnated, remaining at around 3.7% between 2015 and 2019. Estimates for Sub-Saharan Africa show that while the poverty rate continues to decrease, the number of poor increased by 18 million people between 2015 and 2018, continuing a trend documented in recent analysis. Most of the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa live in the East Africa region, which is home to 60% of the Sub-Saharan African population and almost two-thirds of the region’s poor.