India's 'extreme poverty rate' fell drastically from 27.1% in 2011-12 to 5.3% in 2022-23, World Bank says

Representative image

India has managed to reduce its 'extreme poverty rate' from 27.1% in 2011-12 to 5.3% in 2022-23, data by the World Bank said, indicating that India's economic trajectory has seen a transformative shift in the last decade.

The data by the World Bank said that in comparison to the 344. 47 million poverty-struck people in India in 2011-12, in 2022-23, there were only 75.24 million such people in India, proving that there has been a sharp decline in the numbers from years ago.

The data is an indication that 269 million people have been able to cross the poverty line over 11 years - thus showcasing economic reforms, transformed access to the essential services and the effectiveness of the initiatives by the government.

The World Bank's data is based on the international poverty line ($3.00 per day) and shows a reduction in the number of poverty-driven individuals in both the urban and the rural areas.

If measured by the old poverty rate of $2.15 per day, in 2022-23, only 2.3% of the Indian population lived in extreme poverty and that shows a downfall from 16.2% in 2011-12. This further shows that 171 million people have been lifted above the poverty line in 11 years.

Rural extreme poverty showed a decline from 18.4% to 2.8% and the urban extreme poverty reduced from 10.7% to 1.1% between 2011–12 and 2022–23, showing a balanced deline. The bridging of the poverty gap from rural to urban areas of India is an indication of the economic growth in the country and shows how its benefits have reached several peripheries of the nation.