World Bank Says 496 Million Indians Rose Above Poverty

A drop from 57.7% to 16.1% marks a sharp change in the share of Indians living below the World Bank’s $4.20-a-day poverty line between 2011 and 2023. The bank estimates 496 million people rose above that line, using prices adjusted for differences in what money buys across countries. Extreme poverty, measured at $3 a day, fell from 27.1% to 2.6% over the same period. ^4,6

The $4.20 line is the World Bank’s measure for lower-middle-income countries, while the $3 line tracks extreme poverty. In its October 2026 Poverty and Equity Brief, the bank linked the decline to stronger household spending, more people working—especially women—and wider support, such as food subsidies. Employment grew by 134 million between 2017 and 2023, nearly twice the increase in the working-age population. Rural women accounted for much of the gain. ^4,5

Those jobs and payments helped more households earn and spend, but the figures do not mean poverty has disappeared. The bank says workers in the top 10% earned about 13 times as much as those in the bottom 10% in 2023. Poverty also remains more common in rural areas: 19.3% of rural residents were below the $4.20 line in 2023, compared with 8.6% in cities. A belt from Uttar Pradesh to West Bengal contains about 57% of the poor. ^4,6

That 57% concentration points to where future progress will be hardest to achieve. The bank expects poverty at the $4.20 line to keep falling, but more slowly, from a projected 14.2% in 2026 to 12.1% in 2028. It calls those figures estimates that may change as new jobs and economic data come in. ^4,11