Einar H. Dyvik
Research expert covering Nordics and global data for society, economy, and politics
How does India count its poor?
Counting the poor is a vital task, especially for an emerging economy like India, and debates over poverty estimation highlight the importance of survey data. Using the latest annual Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) data for 2023-24, a report by the State Bank of India estimates that all-India poverty levels are between 4 and 4.5 percent, with extreme poverty nearly eliminated.
With the World Bank updating its international poverty line for low-income countries to 3 U.S. dollars a day from 2.15 U.S. dollars a day, the rate of extreme poverty in India declined sharply to 5.3 percent in 2022-23. But what does it mean to live above 3 U.S. dollars a day (approximately 62 rupees as per India's PPP exchange rate) in India?
