A total of 415 million people moved out of poverty in India within just 15 years from 2005/2006 to 2019/2021, the UN said on Tuesday. With this data, the UN highlights the remarkable achievement by the world’s most populous nation.
The latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford.
It said that 25 countries, including India, successfully halved their global MPI values within 15 years, showing that rapid progress is attainable. These countries include Cambodia, China, Congo, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Serbia, and Vietnam.
As per UNDP, “..India saw a remarkable reduction in poverty, with 415 million people exiting poverty within a span of just 15 years (2005/6-19/21). Large numbers of people were lifted out of poverty in China (2010-14, 69 million) and Indonesia (2012-17, 8 million)…”
Earlier in April, India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous nation with 142.86 crore people, according to UN data.
The report also demonstrates that poverty reduction is achievable, however, the lack of comprehensive data during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic poses challenges in assessing immediate prospects, it said.
As per the report, in India, 415 million poor people moved out of poverty from 2005/2006 to 2019/2021, with incidence falling from 55.1 percent in 2005/2006 to 16.4 per cent in 2019/2021.
In 2005/2006, about 645 million people were in multidimensional poverty in India, with this number declining to about 370 million in 2015/2016 and 230 million in 2019/2021.
Furthermore, the report also noted that deprivation in all indicators declined in India, and “the poorest states and groups, including children and people in disadvantaged caste groups, had the fastest absolute progress.”
According to the report, people who are multidimensionally poor and deprived under the nutrition indicator in India declined from 44.3 per cent in 2005/2006 to 11.8 per cent in 2019/2021, and child mortality fell from 4.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent.
In the drinking water indicator, the percentage of people who were multidimensionally poor and deprived fell from 16.4 in 2005/2006 to 2.7 in 2019/2021.
In the same way, the percentage of people who were multidimensionally poor and deprived fell from electricity from 29 per cent to 2.1 per cent) and housing from 44.9 per cent to 13.6 per cent, the report showed.
The report also said that countries with different incidences of poverty also halved their global MPI value.
While 17 countries that did so had an incidence under 25 per cent in the first period, India and Congo had a starting incidence above 50 per cent.
India was among the 19 countries that halved their global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) value during one period – for India it was 2005/2006-2015/2016.
