World Bank: India's Extreme Poverty Falls to 2.6% from 27.1% Between 2011 and 2023
The World Bank's Poverty and Equity Brief for India (October 2026) says the share of Indians in extreme poverty fell from 27.1% in 2011 to 2.6% in 2023. Extreme poverty here means living on less than $3.00 a day, measured in 2021 purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars.
About 496 million people moved above the World Bank's lower-middle-income poverty line of $4.20 a day between 2011 and 2023. The share below this line fell from 57.7% to 16.1%. The World Bank called it one of the fastest poverty declines in the world.
It credits rising consumption, more jobs and larger social transfers such as food subsidies. Employment rose by about 134 million between 2017 and 2023, almost twice the growth in the working-age population, with many rural women joining paid work.
It also flags concerns: real wages stayed broadly flat, many new jobs are in low-productivity work, and youth unemployment rose from 14.6% to 15.9% between Q1 FY26 and Q1 FY27. About 57% of India's poor live in one belt from Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal.
On non-money measures, the World Bank's Multidimensional Poverty Measure stood at 15.5% in 2022-23. Using microsimulation (a computer model), it projects poverty at $4.20 a day to fall from 14.2% in 2026 to 12.1% by 2028.
The World Bank cautioned that part of the recent gain may come from better survey methods, not only from real improvement in living standards.
Poverty Measurement in India: Methods and Debates
Poverty measurement means deciding who counts as poor and how many such people there are. The usual tool is a poverty line: a fixed amount of spending per person that is needed to meet basic needs. Anyone spending less is counted as poor. India measures consumption (spending), not income, because spending is easier to record and steadier for poor households, whose incomes go up and down.
The 27.1% to 2.6% fall is measured at the World Bank's $3 line using HCES data. The World Bank's own warning, that some of the gain may reflect better measurement, goes to the heart of the debate on how India counts its poor.
Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI): Measuring Poverty Beyond Income
The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) measures poverty by looking at what people actually lack in daily life, not only how much they spend. The Global MPI checks 10 indicators in 3 dimensions: health, education and living standards. A person who lacks at least one-third of the weighted indicators is counted as multidimensionally poor. It was created in 2010 by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and the UNDP.
The brief shows that India's poverty fall is visible not only in spending data but also in multidimensional measures, though the MPM (15.5%) remains much higher than extreme money poverty (2.6%). This gap shows that many people above the money line still lack schooling, sanitation or clean cooking fuel.
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP): Nominal GDP vs PPP Rankings
Purchasing power parity (PPP) is a way of comparing incomes and prices across countries after adjusting for the fact that the same money buys different amounts in different countries. A haircut or a plate of rice costs far less in India than in the United States. So "$3 a day" in PPP terms does not mean three dollars at the market exchange rate. It means the amount of rupees that buys what $3 buys in the US.
Both the $3.00 and $4.20 lines in the brief are in 2021 PPP dollars. Knowing this helps a student read the 2.6% and 16.1% figures correctly: they compare real buying power, not dollars at the bank's exchange rate.
- Report: World Bank Poverty and Equity Brief, India, October 2026
- Extreme poverty ($3.00/day, 2021 PPP): 27.1% (2011) to 2.6% (2023)
- Below $4.20/day (lower-middle-income line): 57.7% to 16.1%; about 496 million people moved above it (2011 to 2023)
- Projection at $4.20/day: 14.2% (2026) to 12.1% (2028)
- World Bank Multidimensional Poverty Measure: 15.5% (2022-23)
- Global MPI (OPHI): 53.8% (2005-06) to 16.4% (2019-21)
- Employment rose by about 134 million (2017 to 2023)
- Youth unemployment: 14.6% to 15.9% (Q1 FY26 to Q1 FY27)
- About 57% of India's poor live in the Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal belt
- World Bank global lines (2021 PPP): $3.00, $4.20, $8.30 a day