India lifted an estimated 496 million people out of poverty between 2011 and 2023, with the share of the population living in extreme poverty declining sharply from 27.1 per cent to 2.6 per cent, according to the World Bank’s October 2026 Poverty and Equity Brief.
Poverty is expected to decline further, although at a slower pace. Non-monetary poverty has also declined significantly. Real earnings also remained broadly unchanged, with employment growth concentrated in relatively low-productivity activities.
The World Bank’s projections indicate that the poverty rate at the USD 4.20-a-day threshold could fall from 14.2 per cent in 2026 to 12.1 per cent by 2028. The report said the poverty rate measured through the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative’s Multidimensional Poverty Index fell from 53.8 per cent in 2005-06 to 16.4 per cent in 2019-21. The World Bank’s own multidimensional poverty measure stood at 15.5 per cent in 2022-23. However, youth unemployment rose from 14.6 per cent to 15.9 per cent between the first quarters of FY26 and FY27, particularly among rural young women.
Describing the progress as “one of the fastest poverty declines in the world”, the World Bank said India had recorded improvements across both monetary and non-monetary measures of poverty.
