The incidence of poverty in the country dropped from
55.1% in 2005-06 to 16.4% in 2019-21, as per the latest
Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) compiled jointly by the
UN Development Programme (UNDP) and
Oxford Poverty and
Human Development Initiative (OPHI).
The index has stated that India still has the world’s highest number of poor at 228.9 million, followed by Nigeria (96.7 million projected in 2020).
The report found that across 111 countries which were assessed using the most recent comparable data available, 1.2 billion people (19.1 per cent) live in acute poverty and almost half of these people (593 million) are children under the age of 18 years.
The developing region with the largest number of poor people is Sub-Saharan Africa (nearly 579 million), followed by South Asia (385 million), the report highlighted.
The Pandemic Effect : The
MPI highlighted that the
Covid-19 pandemic had set the global progress in reducing poverty back by
3–10 years. “Despite progress, India’s population remains vulnerable to the mounting effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and to rising food and energy prices. Integrated policies tackling the ongoing nutritional and energy crises should be a priority,” the report said..
Source : Economic Times