The proportion of Indians living in extreme poverty declined sharply in the last decade, from 27.1% to 5.3%, according to the latest data estimates released by the World Bank.

According to the World Bank’s global poverty update, between 2011-12 and 2022-23, the number of people living under extreme poverty in India fell from 344.47 million to 75.24 million. This means that approximately 269 million people came out of poverty during this period.

The World Bank’s latest assessment reported this substantial poverty reduction even after applying a stricter measurement method. It raised the poverty benchmark to $3 daily consumption from the earlier $2.15 and incorporated the 2021 Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs).

Five states—Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, and Madhya Pradesh—which had accounted for 65% of India’s extreme poor in 2011-12, contributed to two-thirds of the total reduction in extreme poverty by 2022-23.

According to the earlier $2.15 poverty threshold (calculated using 2017 prices), the proportion of Indians living in extreme poverty decreased to 2.3% in 2022-23, down from 16.2% in 2011-12.

This significant decline reduced the number of people living in extreme poverty from 205.93 million in 2011-12 to 33.66 million in 2022-23. This shows that 172 million individuals rose above this poverty threshold during this time.

The World Bank also adjusted its lower-middle-income category (LMIC) poverty threshold to $4.20 per day, up from $3.65 (2017 prices). Based on this revised measure, the proportion of Indians below this line declined from 57.7% in 2011-12 to 23.9% in 2022-23.

During this 11-year period, the absolute number of people below the LMIC threshold fell from 732.48 million to 342.32 million.

Following these revisions, the World Bank also updated the global extreme poverty rate for 2022. It raised the rate from 9% to 10.5%. As a result, the number of people living below the international poverty line increased from 713 million to 838 million.