Kolkata: The grip of extreme poverty — defined by a condition of living less than $2.15 a day — loosened from 18.2% in 2011-12 to 2.3% in 2022-23, thereby lifting as many as 17.1 crore people above this line, a recent report of the World Bank has said. The report also stated that such poverty has become a lot less common in both the rural and urban areas. While rural extreme poverty crashed from 18.4% to 2.8%, urban extreme poverty dropped from 10.7% to 1.1% between 2011-12 and 2022-13. As a result the rural-urban gap from 7.7 to 1.7 percentage points — or a 16% annual decline, said “Poverty and Equity briefs”, in which the World Bank highlights poverty, shared prosperity and inequality trends for over 100 developing countries.
The five populous states
The five most populous states of India are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh. These five states accounted for as much as 65% of the country’s extreme poor in 2011-12. The World Bank report stated that these five states also contributed to two-thirds of the decline in extreme poverty by 2022-23. However, these states continue account more than half — 54% in fact — of the extremely poor population of the country in 2022-23.
“As measured by the multidimensional poverty index (MPI), non-monetary poverty declined from 53.8% in 2005-06 to 16.4% by 2019-21. The World Bank’s Multidimensional Poverty Measure is at 15.5% in 2022-23,” the report mentioned. Incidentally, The MPI is a comprehensive measure of poverty that goes beyond income and considers multiple dimensions of deprivation along dimensions of health, education and living standards.
On the employment front
The World bank report has also noted advances on the employment front. “Employment growth has outpaced the working-age population since 2021-22. Employment rates, especially among women, are rising, and urban unemployment fell to 6.6% 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,” it said.
Challenges ahead
The report also underscored the challenges and pointed out that youth unemployment is at 13.3% and it rises to 29% among tertiary education graduates. “Only 23% 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%, gender disparities remain, with 234 million more men in paid work,” the report mentioned.
In the publication “Poverty and Equity briefs” World Bank highlights poverty, shared prosperity and inequality trends for over 100 developing countries. It said the incidence of “extreme poverty” fell both in the rural urban sectors lifting 17.1 crore people above the $2.15 per day line in the past decade. Biz News Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
