Crime Today News
Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh accounted for 65 percent of the country’s extreme poor in 2011-12 and contributed to two-thirds of the overall decline in extreme poverty by 2022-23.
World Bank has said that India has achieved significant progress in poverty reduction and employment growth has outpaced the working-age population.
In a report on ‘India Poverty and Equity Brief’, the multilateral agency said that extreme poverty (living on less than $2.15 per day) has fallen to 2.3 per cent of the population in 2022-23 from 16.2 per cent in 2011-12. With this, 17.1 crore people have been lifted out of poverty.
Further it said that rural extreme poverty dropped to 2.8 per cent from 18.4 percent and urban to 1.1 per cent from 10.7 percent narrowing the rural-urban gap from 7.7 to 1.7 percentage points—a 16 per cent annual decline. “India also transitioned into the lower-middle-income category,” the report said. Using the $3.65 per day LMIC (lower-middle-income countries) poverty line, poverty fell to 28.1 per cent from 61.8 percent, lifting 37.8 crore people out of poverty.
“Rural poverty dropped from 69 percent to 32.5 percent, and urban poverty from 43.5 percent to 17.2 percent, reducing the rural-urban gap from 25 to 15 percentage points with a 7 percent annual decline,” it said.
The five most populous states—Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh—accounted for 65 per cent of the country’s extreme poor in 2011-12 and contributed to two-thirds of the overall decline in extreme poverty by 2022-23. Nevertheless, “these States still accounted for 54 percent of India’s extremely poor (2022-23) and 51 percent of the multi-dimensionally poor (2019-21),” it said,
Further, India’s consumption-based Gini index improved from 28.8 in 2011-12 to 25.5 in 2022-23, though inequality may be underestimated due to data limitations, the report said. It may be noted that Gini index is a measure of income inequality within a population, ranging from 0 to 1, where 0 represents perfect equality and 1 represents perfect inequality)
“In contrast, the World Inequality Database shows income inequality rising from a Gini of 52 in 2004 to 62 in 2023. Wage disparity remains high, with the median earnings of the top 10 percent being 13 times higher than the bottom 10 per cent in 2023-24,” the report noted.
Employment
Urban unemployment fell to 6.6 per cent in Q1 FY24/25, the lowest since 2017-18. Recent data indicates a shift of male workers from rural to urban areas for the first time since 2018-19, while rural female employment in agriculture has grown. However, challenges persist as youth unemployment is at 13.3 per cent, increasing to 29 per cent among tertiary education graduates.
“Only 23 per cent of non-farm paid jobs are formal, and most agricultural employment remains informal. Self-employment is rising, especially among rural workers and women. Despite a female employment rate of 31 percent, gender disparities remain, with 234 million more men in paid work,” it said.
Published on April 24, 2025
📰 Crime Today News is proudly sponsored by DRYFRUIT & CO – A Brand by eFabby Global LLC
Design & Developed by Yes Mom Hosting
