India’s poverty decline is remarkable, but 23 crore still remain poor… by GSP Mann
India has reduced extreme poverty to just 2.6%. That is a remarkable headline. But behind this seemingly small percentage are 3.5 crore people, a population equivalent to that of Malaysia, still living in extreme poverty.
Widen the definition slightly, and the number rises to 23.2 crore, more than the entire population of Brazil. These are not just statistics. They represent the enormous human challenge that remains even after India’s impressive economic progress.
The World Bank’s latest findings show that extreme poverty declined from 27.1% in 2011–12 to 2.6% in 2023–24. At the broader lower-middle-income poverty threshold, the decline was from 57.7% to 16.1%. An estimated 49.6 crore fewer Indians now fall below this broader poverty line. For a developing nation of India’s size and complexity, this is an extraordinary achievement deserving recognition.
Yet percentages can sometimes obscure more than they reveal. The 3.5 crore extremely poor are included within the larger 23.2 crore figure, not additional to it. Even after such dramatic progress, India has a population larger than Brazil living below a modest consumption threshold.
The World Bank defines extreme poverty at $3 per person per day, equivalent to approximately ₹58, and lower-middle-income poverty at $4.20, equivalent to ₹82, using 2021 purchasing power parity. These are daily consumption thresholds at 2021 prices, not today’s market exchange rates. Can someone consuming goods and services worth barely ₹82 a day really be considered economically secure? Crossing a poverty line is not the same as crossing into prosperity.
India’s achievement reflects sustained economic growth, higher household consumption, infrastructure development, employment participation and expanded welfare programmes. Free food grains and social assistance have provided vital protection to vulnerable families. The progress spans successive governments, although much of the period falls under the present administration. It deserves recognition as a national achievement, not merely a subject of political credit.
There is, however, important fine print. Household consumption surveys in 2011–12 and 2023–24 used different methodologies. The World Bank has attempted to harmonise them, but some uncertainty remains about the precise magnitude of poverty reduction. This qualification does not invalidate the progress.
More concerning is the disconnect between employment and earnings. Between 2017 and 2023, employment increased by approximately 13.4 crore persons, yet real earnings remained broadly stagnant. A family may escape statistical poverty through low-paid employment and welfare assistance without acquiring lasting financial security. Employment that merely keeps people above the poverty line cannot be the ultimate measure of economic success.
The rural–urban divide reinforces this concern. At the $4.20 threshold, rural poverty remains at 19.3%, against 8.6% in urban India. Agriculture supports millions of livelihoods, yet farmers remain constrained by low productivity, fragmented holdings, uncertain markets and limited value addition.
This underlines the urgency of structural reforms. Agriculture is constitutionally a State subject, but crucial economic instruments governing trade, procurement and agricultural markets remain substantially influenced by the Centre. Agricultural diversification, better market access and rising farm incomes must become central to poverty reduction. Administrative, regulatory and judicial reforms are equally essential to encourage investment, enterprise and productive employment.
India has demonstrated that it can lift hundreds of millions above poverty thresholds. That achievement deserves applause. But the next challenge is far more demanding: ensuring that those who have escaped poverty do not slip back, and those still below it have a genuine opportunity to prosper.
The true measure of India’s economic rise will not be how close we bring poverty percentages to zero, but how many Indians we lift permanently beyond the struggle for survival. A nation cannot be satisfied with merely making its poor statistically invisible. It must make them economically secure.
October 31, 2026.
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GSP Mann, Farmer and Former Member of the Punjab Public Service Commission
gpsmann@substack.com
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