Publication:
India: Trends in Poverty from 2011-2012 to 2022-2023

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (1.55 MB)
535 downloads
English Text (261.25 KB)
17 downloads
Published
2025-07-10
ISSN
Date
2025-07-10
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This technical note outlines updated poverty trends in India, drawing on data from the 2022–23 and 2011–12 Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys (CES) conducted by the National Sample Survey Office. It introduces a new methodology based on the Modified Mixed Reference Period (MMRP) and evaluates poverty using international poverty lines (IPLs) defined in 2017 purchasing power parity (PPP). The analysis includes thresholds for extreme poverty, lower-middle-income, and upper-middle-income countries, and also explores potential adjustments using 2021 PPPs. The findings indicate a marked reduction in poverty levels over the past decade, reflecting improvements in household welfare. These updated estimates differ from earlier World Bank figures, which relied on alternative data sources and methodologies, such as the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) and uniform recall periods. The revised approach offers a more refined and current understanding of poverty and inequality in India, emphasizing the importance of accurate data and methodology in shaping economic assessments and policy decisions.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank. 2025. India: Trends in Poverty from 2011-2012 to 2022-2023. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43442 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Perspectives on Poverty in India : Stylized Facts from Survey Data
    (World Bank, 2011-04-13) World Bank
    This report's objective is to develop the evidence base for policy making in relation to poverty reduction. It produces a diagnosis of the broad nature of the poverty problem and its trends in India, focusing on both consumption poverty and human development outcomes. It also includes attention in greater depth to three pathways important to inclusive growth and poverty reduction harnessing the potential of urban growth to stimulate rural-based poverty reduction, rural diversification away from agriculture, and tackling social exclusion. This report shows that urban growth, which has increasingly outpaced growth in rural areas, has helped to reduce poverty for urban residents directly. In addition, evidence appears of a much stronger link from urban economic growth to rural poverty reduction. Stronger links with rural poverty are due to a more integrated economy. Urban areas are a demand hub for rural producers, as well as a source of employment for the rural labor force. They are aiding the transformation of the rural economy out of agriculture. In urban areas, it is small and medium-size towns, rather than large cities, that appear to demonstrate the strongest urban-rural growth links. Urban growth also stimulates rural-urban migration. But although some increase in such migration has occurred over time, migration levels in India remain relatively low compared to other countries.
  • Publication
    Economic Growth, Inequality, and Poverty : Findings from a New Data Set
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-02) Adams, Richard H., Jr.
    The author uses new data from 50 developing countries and 101 intervals to examine the impact of economic growth on poverty and inequality. He finds that growth represents an important means for reducing poverty in the developing world. When economic growth is measured by survey mean income (consumption), there is a strong, statistical link between growth and poverty reduction. When economic growth is measured by GDP per capita, the statistical relationship between growth and poverty reduction is still present, albeit not quite as strong. Economic growth reduces poverty because growth has little impact on income inequality. In the data set income inequality rises on average less than 1.0 percent a year. Since income distributions are relatively stable over time, economic growth tends to raise incomes for all members of society, including the poor. When growth is measured by survey mean income (consumption), the elasticity of poverty with respect to growth is -2.59. In other words, on average, a 10 percentage point increase in economic growth (measured by survey mean income) will produce a 25.9 percent decrease in the proportion of people living in poverty ($1 a person a day).
  • Publication
    Sri Lanka : Attaining the Millennium Development Goals in Sri Lanka, How Likely and What Will it Take to Reduce Poverty, Child Mortality and Malnutrition, and to Increase School Enrollment and Completion?
    (Washington, DC, 2005-06) World Bank
    This report focuses on the attainment of five major human development-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by sub-national units in Sri Lanka relating to poverty, under-five and infant mortality, child malnutrition, schooling enrollment and completion, and gender disparities in schooling. The selection of these MDGs for detailed analysis was based in large part on the availability of reliable sub-national data. The report concludes that of these MDGs, Sri Lanka has already attained the numerical goals relating to universal primary enrollment and completion. Indeed, the country had almost met these goals as far back as 1990-91, and is far ahead o f the other countries of South Asia in terms of having reached near-universal primary enrollment and completion. Sri Lanka has also attained the MD goal of gender parity in primary and secondary school enrollments, again having met this target as early as 1990-91. However, Sri Lanka faces considerable challenges in ensuring good quality primary education, with substantial shortfalls in cognitive achievement in the country as a whole. Further, Sri Lanka experiences sharp regional disparities in learning outcomes. Improving the quality of primary education in the country, with special emphasis on educationally disadvantaged areas, will require strategic policy development, effective service delivery and efficient investment of resources.
  • Publication
    The Debate on Globalization, Poverty, and Inequality : Why Measurement Matters
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-05) Ravallion, Martin
    In the last year or so, markedly different claims have been heard within the development community about just how much progress is being made against poverty and inequality in the current period of "globalization." Ravallion provides a nontechnical overview of the conceptual and methodological issues underlying these conflicting claims. He argues that the dramatically differing positions taken in this debate often stem from differences in the concepts and definitions used and differences in data sources and measurement assumptions. These differences are often hidden from view in the debate, but they need to be considered carefully if one is to properly interpret the evidence. The author argues that the best available evidence suggests that if the rate of progress against absolute poverty in the developing world in the 1990s is maintained, then the Millennium Development Goal of halving the 1990 aggregate poverty rate by 2015 will be achieved on time in the aggregate, though not in all regions. He concludes with some observations on the implications for the more policy-oriented debates on globalization and pro-poor growth.
  • Publication
    China - From Poor Areas to Poor People : China’s Evolving Poverty Reduction Agenda - An Assessment of Poverty and Inequality in China
    (World Bank, 2009-03-01) World Bank
    China's progress in poverty reduction over the last 25 years is enviable. One cannot fail to be impressed by what this vast nation of 1.3 billion people has achieved in so little time. In terms of a wide range of indicators, the progress has been remarkable. Poverty in terms of income and consumption has been dramatically reduced. Progress has also been substantial in terms of human development indicators. Most of the millennium development goals have either already been achieved or the country is well on the way to achieving them. As a result of this progress, the country is now at a very different stage of development than it was at the dawn of the economic reforms at the beginning of the 1980s. China's poverty reduction performance has been even more striking. Between 1981 and 2004, the fraction of the population consuming below this poverty line fell from 65 percent to 10 percent, and the absolute number of poor fell from 652 million to 135 million, a decline of over half a billion people. The most rapid declines in poverty, in both the poverty rate and the number of poor, occurred during the 6th, 8th, and 10th plans. During the 7th plan period the number of poor actually rose, while in the 9th plan period, the poverty rate declined only marginally. But the pace of poverty reduction resumed between 2001 and 2004 and there are indications that during the first couple of years of the 11th plan poverty has continued to decline rapidly. The most recent official estimate of rural poverty in China for 2007 puts the number of poor at 14.79 million, or less than 2 percent of the rural population. While there is no official urban poverty line, estimates by others have found poverty levels in urban areas to be negligible using an urban poverty line that is comparable to the official poverty line for rural areas. These estimates thus suggest that only about 1 percent of China's population is currently in extreme poverty. Notwithstanding this tremendous success, the central thesis of this report is that the task of poverty reduction in many ways continues and in some respects has become more demanding.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Global Poverty Revisited Using 2021 PPPs and New Data on Consumption
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-05) Foster, Elizabeth; Jolliffe, Dean Mitchell; Lara Ibarra, Gabriel; Lakner, Christoph; Tettah-Baah, Samuel
    Recent improvements in survey methodologies have increased measured consumption in many low- and lower-middle-income countries that now collect a more comprehensive measure of household consumption. Faced with such methodological changes, countries have frequently revised upward their national poverty lines to make them appropriate for the new measures of consumption. This in turn affects the World Bank’s global poverty lines when they are periodically revised. The international poverty line, which is based on the typical poverty line in low-income countries, increases by around 40 percent to $3.00 when the more recent national poverty lines as well as the 2021 purchasing power parities are incorporated. The net impact of the changes in international prices, the poverty line, and new survey data (including new data for India) is an increase in global extreme poverty by some 125 million people in 2022, and a significant shift of poverty away from South Asia and toward Sub-Saharan Africa. The changes at higher poverty lines, which are more relevant to middle-income countries, are mixed.
  • Publication
    September 2024 Update to the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP)
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-11) Aron, Danielle V.; Castaneda Aguilar, R. Andres; Diaz-Bonilla, Carolina; Fujs, Tony H. M. J.; Garcia R., Diana C.; Hill, Ruth; Jularbal, Lali; Lakner, Christoph; Lara Ibarra, Gabriel; Mahler, Daniel G.; Nguyen, Minh C.; Nursamsu, Samuel; Sabatino, Carlos; Sajaia, Zurah; Seitz, William; Sjahrir, Bambang Suharnoko; Tetteh-Baah, Samuel K.; Viveros Mendoza, Martha C.; Winkler, Hernán; Wu, Haoyu; Yonzan, Nishant
    The September 2024 update to the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) introduces several changes to the data underlying the global poverty estimates. This document details these changes and the methodological reasons behind them. The database now includes 16 new country-years, bringing the total number of surveys to nearly 2,400. This update incorporates new methodologies for measuring global poverty and introduces new indicators of shared prosperity: A Prosperity Gap and the number of economies with high income inequality. It also incorporates two new analytical dashboards: growth incidence curves and poverty decompositions. Depending on the availability of recent survey data, global and regional poverty estimates are reported up to 2022. For the first time, PIP also includes country-level, regional, and global poverty nowcast estimates up to 2024. The September 2024 PIP update presents the poverty and inequality data underlying the forthcoming World Bank’s Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2024.
  • Publication
    Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2024
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-10-15) World Bank
    The Poverty, Prosperity, and Planet Report 2024 is the latest edition of the series formerly known as Poverty and Shared Prosperity. The report emphasizes that reducing poverty and increasing shared prosperity must be achieved in ways that do not come at unacceptably high costs to the environment. The current “polycrisis”—where the multiple crises of slow economic growth, increased fragility, climate risks, and heightened uncertainty have come together at the same time—makes national development strategies and international cooperation difficult. Offering the first post-Coronavirus (COVID)-19 pandemic assessment of global progress on this interlinked agenda, the report finds that global poverty reduction has resumed but at a pace slower than before the COVID-19 crisis. Nearly 700 million people worldwide live in extreme poverty with less than US$2.15 per person per day. Progress has essentially plateaued amid lower economic growth and the impacts of COVID-19 and other crises. Today, extreme poverty is concentrated mostly in Sub-Saharan Africa and fragile settings. At a higher standard more typical of upper-middle-income countries—US$6.85 per person per day—almost one-half of the world is living in poverty. The report also provides evidence that the number of countries that have high levels of income inequality has declined considerably during the past two decades, but the pace of improvements in shared prosperity has slowed, and that inequality remains high in Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa. Worldwide, people’s incomes today would need to increase fivefold on average to reach a minimum prosperity threshold of US$25 per person per day. Where there has been progress in poverty reduction and shared prosperity, there is evidence of an increasing ability of countries to manage natural hazards, but climate risks are significantly higher in the poorest settings. Nearly one in five people globally is at risk of experiencing welfare losses due to an extreme weather event from which they will struggle to recover. The interconnected issues of climate change and poverty call for a united and inclusive effort from the global community. Development cooperation stakeholders—from governments, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to communities and citizens acting locally in every corner of the globe—hold pivotal roles in promoting fair and sustainable transitions. By emphasizing strategies that yield multiple benefits and diligently monitoring and addressing trade-offs, we can strive toward a future that is prosperous, equitable, and resilient.
  • Publication
    Toward Next-Generation Performance Budgeting
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-11-01) Moynihan, Donald; Beazley, Ivor
    Toward Next-Generation Performance Budgeting: Lessons from the Experiences of Seven Reforming Countries analyzes the difficulties that national governments have had in linking measurement of performance and results to the annual budget process. The book is based on intensive reviews of four advanced countries that were early reformers and three pioneers in Central and Eastern Europe. In addition to looking at their current systems, Toward Next-Generation Performance Budgeting looks at how their approaches have evolved over time. This book attempts to fill a gap between survey-based self-assessments and best-practice guides. It was compiled in response to the concerns of budget departments in countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, many of which are committed to adopting some form of performance-based budgeting and are seeking to learn from the experiences of previous reformers what the practical challenges are and how they can adapt best-practice approaches to a messy reality. The case studies demonstrate a general pattern of disappointment with the results of performance budgeting, balanced by a strong belief in the underlying logic, which has resulted in repeated efforts to modify approaches to tighten the links between budgeting and performance. These efforts have resulted in significant variation in how countries have implemented performance budgeting and in the benefits they have derived. These variations offer guidance for models of next-generation performance budgeting, avoiding classic pitfalls, and incorporating modifications introduced by those who have used it longest and found it useful.
  • Publication
    June 2025 Update to the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP)
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-11) Alfani, Federica; Aaron, Danielle V.; Atamanov, Aziz; Aguilar, R.Andres Castaneda; Diaz-Bonilla, Carolina; Devpura, Nancy P.; Dewina, Reno; Finn, Arden; Fujs, Tony; Gonzalez, Maria Fernanda; Krishnan, Nandini; Kochhar, Nishtha; Kumar, Naresh; Lakner, Christoph; Ibarra, Gabriel Lara; Lestani, Diego; Liniado, Julia; Lønborg, Jonas; Mahler, Daniel G.; Mejía-Mantilla, Carolina; Montalva, Veronica; Herrera, Laura L.; Nguyen, Minh C.; Rubiano, Eliana; Sajaia, Zurab; Castro, Diana M.; Seshan, Ganesh K.; Tetteh-Baah, Samuel K.; Mendoza, Martha C. Viveros; Wu, Haoyu; Yonzan, Nishant; Wambile, Ayago
    The June 2025 update to the Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) introduces several important changes to the data underlying the global poverty estimates. The most important change is the adoption of the 2021 Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs). In addition, new data for India has been incorporated and the existing series adjusted for comparability. This document details the changes to underlying data and the methodological reasons behind them. Depending on the availability of recent survey data, global and regional poverty estimates are reported up to 2023, together with nowcasts up to 2025. The PIP database now includes 74 new country-years, bringing the total number of surveys to over 2,400, for 172 economies.