Finance1 min read

How India pulled 500 million people out of poverty, as inequality deepens

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Between 2011 and 2023, the proportion of people living below the lower middle-income poverty line of $4.20 a day fell from 57.7 percent to 16.1 percent, representing roughly 496 million individuals. The World Bank compared this historic reduction only to China, which lifted more than 800 million citizens out of poverty over four decades. Local milestones reflect this shift, with the southern state of Kerala officially declaring itself free from extreme poverty last November. Yet, economists emphasize that income disparities remain near global highs following economic reforms that began in the 1990s.

Key points

  • Expanded social transfers such as food subsidies and increased female employment served a…: Expanded social transfers such as food subsidies and increased female employment served as primary catalysts for the historic poverty decline.
  • Despite sweeping welfare improvements, wealth and income inequality have widened consider…: Despite sweeping welfare improvements, wealth and income inequality have widened considerably since economic liberalization began in the early 1990s.
  • India still maintains the highest absolute number of impoverished people worldwide due to…: India still maintains the highest absolute number of impoverished people worldwide due to its vast population of 1.4 billion.

Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1

India’s extreme poverty has declined from 27.1 percent to 2.6 percent between 2011 and 2023 according to the World Bank.

Bengaluru, India — India lifted nearly 500 million out of poverty between 2011 and 2023, with extreme poverty dropping from 27.1 percent to 2.6 percent in the world’s most populous nation during the same period, according to a new report by the World Bank.

The only other parallel in poverty reduction on this scale is China, which lifted more than 800 million people out of extreme poverty — though that was over a period of 40 years.

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Yet despite the substantial fall in poverty in India — home to 1.4 billion people — the income and wealth inequality gap has widened significantly since it opened up its economy in the early 1990s.

According to the 2026…

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