According to the UNDP’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), around 415 million people in India have been pulled out of poverty in the past 15 years. The United Nations Development Programme called the poverty reduction “remarkable,” emphasising that India is on track to meet long-term development goals. “The reduction in Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) value in India was swift across the two most recent periods,” according to the report.
According to MPI estimates based on the country’s recently released 2019-2021 Demographic and Health Survey, 415 million people exited poverty between 2005-2006 and 2019-2021 — including approximately 140 million since 2015-2016 — and the country’s MPI value and incidence of poverty were both more than halved.”
Latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) with estimates for 110 countries by the UNDP says, "..India saw a remarkable reduction in poverty, with 415 million people exiting poverty within a span of just 15 years (2005/6–19/21). Large numbers of people were… pic.twitter.com/x52UE9cnnU
— ANI (@ANI) July 11, 2023
The 2022 paper, titled “Unpacking Deprivation Bundle to Reduce Multidimensional Poverty,” is supported by a recent statistics analysis, titled “Unstacking Global Poverty: Data for High Impact Action.” According to the 2023 figures, poverty in India reduced from 55.1% to 16.4%, with deprivation decreasing across all poverty measures. Furthermore, the poorest nations and groups, particularly children and those from disadvantaged castes, saw the greatest absolute development.
According to the research, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand, which were initially among the poorest in the country, decreased poverty quicker in absolute terms than the national average, therefore closing the poverty gap. Rural communities were the poorest and had the greatest decrease in MPI value. Poverty prevalence in rural areas reduced from 36.6% in 2015-2016 to 21.2% in 2019-2021, while it fell from 9% to 5.5% in urban areas.
Children, the poorest age group, saw the greatest decrease in MPI value. Poverty among children fell from 34.7% to 21.8%, while it fell from 24% to 13.9% among adults. Similarly, the lowest castes and religious groups have seen the greatest absolute decline in recent years.
Notably, SDG target 1.2 is to reduce by half the number of men, women, and children of all ages living in poverty in all of its aspects. According to the UNDP study, India’s achievement demonstrates that this aim is achievable even on a big scale.
Sanitation, cooking fuel, and housing deprivation reduced the greatest from 2015-2016 to 2019-2021. The share of people living in poverty and without access to sanitation declined from 24.4% in 2015-2016 to 11.3% in 2019-2021. The proportion of the population that cooked primarily with wood, dung, charcoal, or another solid fuel was nearly halved — from 26% in 2015-2016 to 13.9% in 2019-2021, with a large decrease in the share of the population that is impoverished and without power, from 8.6% to 2.1%.
(With inputs from OpIndia)
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