Team Blitz India
NEW DELHI: Over the decades, India has improved living standards and significantly reduced poverty despite rising inequalities, says the 2024 Regional Human Development Report of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
India decreased its multi-dimensional poverty index by 39 percentage points, lifting 415 million out of multidimensional poverty. Moreover, between 2015-16 & 2019-21, the share of population living in multidimensional poverty fell from 25 to 15%.
In India, between 2000 & 2022, per capita income soared from $442 to $2,389. Between 2004 & 2019, poverty rates (based on international poverty measure of $2.15 per day) plummeted from 40% to 10%. For example, between 2005 & 2006 and 2019 & 2020,
“Despite these successes, poverty remains persistently concentrated in states that are home to 45% of India’s population but contain 62% of its poor. In addition, many other people are vulnerable, hovering just above the poverty line,” the report finds.
The report also draws attention to the fact that India has a demographic advantage in terms of rapidly expanding youth population (15-24 years).
“India is contributing significantly to the growth in the global middle class-encompassing those living between $12 and $120 a day. India is expected to contribute 24% to the global middle-class growth (192 million people),” it said.
