415 million people exited poverty in India in 15 years: UN report

NEW DELHI: Around 415 million people exited poverty within a span of just 15 years between 2005 to 2021 in India, according to the latest Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). India is also one of the 25 countries that have successfully halved their global MPI values within 15 years.
Some of the other countries that have achieved this include China, Cambodia, Congo, Honduras, Indonesia, Morocco, Serbia and Vietnam.According to the UNDP statement, this analysis is based on trends from 2000 to 2022 covering 81 countries with comparable data over time.
The global MPI monitors both poverty reduction and how people experience poverty in different aspects of their daily lives — from access to education and health, to living standards such as housing, drinking water, sanitation, and electricity.

Notably, in India, the incidence of poverty fell from 55% (645 million) in 2005/2006 to 16% (230 million) in 2019/2021.
According to the report, people in India who are multi-dimensionally poor and deprived under the nutrition indicator declined from 44% in 2005-06 to 12% in 2019/21 and child mortality declined from 4% to 1.5%. Those who are poor and deprived of cooking fuel declined from 53% to 14% and those deprived of sanitation was declined from 50% to 11.3%. In the drinking water, those deprived fell from 16% to 3%; lack of access to electricity came down from 29%to 2% and housing from 44% to 14%.
“India saw a remarkable reduction in poverty. Large numbers of people were lifted out of poverty in China (2010-14, 69 million) and Indonesia (2012-17, 8 million),” the UNDP said in a statement.
The report 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.
The latest update of the global MPI with estimates for 110 countries was released on Tuesday by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at University of Oxford. According to the report 1.1 billion out of 6.1 billion people (just over 18%) live in acute multi-dimensional poverty across 110 countries. Sub-Saharan Africa (534 million) and South Asia (389 million) are home to approximately five out of every six poor people. Children under 18 years old account for half of MPI-poor people (566 million).