India has achieved a remarkable feat in poverty eradication, with approximately 415 million people successfully lifting themselves out of poverty within a span of just 15 years, starting from 2005. This encouraging development was highlighted in the latest Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), which also revealed that India is among the 25 nations that have effectively halved their global MPI values in the same timeframe. Joining India in this achievement are countries such as China, Cambodia, Congo, Honduras, Indonesia, Morocco, Serbia, and Vietnam.
The UNDP applauded India’s significant strides in reducing poverty, acknowledging similar achievements in China and Indonesia. According to the report, there has been a reduction in deprivation for all indicators in India. The most rapid progress, in absolute terms, was made by the poorest states and social groups. This is truly an inspiring achievement for India and its people!
India has witnessed a remarkable feat in poverty eradication as approximately 415 million people have successfully lifted themselves out of poverty within a span of just 15 years, starting from 2005. This encouraging development was highlighted in the latest Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). The index also revealed that India is among the 25 nations that have effectively halved their global MPI values in the same timeframe.
Joining India in this achievement are countries such as China, Cambodia, Congo, Honduras, Indonesia, Morocco, Serbia, and Vietnam. The findings of the analysis, presented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), were based on trends observed between 2000 and 2022 across 81 countries with comparable data.
The Global MPI not only measures poverty reduction but also assesses how people experience poverty in various aspects of their daily lives. It evaluates factors such as access to education, healthcare, housing, drinking water, sanitation, and electricity.
Significantly, in India, the incidence of poverty declined from 55% (equivalent to 645 million individuals) in 2005/2006 to 16% (230 million individuals) in 2019/2021.
The report further highlights the progress made in specific indicators within India. The proportion of individuals experiencing multidimensional poverty and deprivation in terms of nutrition witnessed a remarkable decline, plummeting from 44% in 2005-06 to a mere 12% in the period of 2019/21. Similarly, child mortality rates dropped from 4% to 1.5%. The proportion of those lacking access to cooking fuel decreased from 53% to 14%, while individuals deprived of sanitation facilities decreased from 50% to 11.3%. In terms of drinking water, the deprived population fell from 16% to 3%, while lack of access to electricity decreased from 29% to 2%, and inadequate housing reduced from 44% to 14%.
The UNDP applauded India’s significant strides in reducing poverty, acknowledging similar achievements in China, where 69 million people were lifted out of poverty between 2010 and 2014, and in Indonesia, where 8 million people achieved the same feat between 2012 and 2017.
The report also noted that deprivation in all indicators declined in India, with the poorest states and social groups, including children and marginalized caste communities, making the fastest progress in absolute terms.
The United Nations Development Programme, in collaboration with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford, released the latest update of the global MPI. The report provided estimates for 110 countries and was published on Tuesday.
According to the report findings indicate that out of the 6.1 billion people worldwide, around 1.1 billion individuals, comprising slightly over 18% of the global population, reside in acute multidimensional poverty across 110 nations. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 534 million of the world’s poor, while South Asia accounts for 389 million. It is also worth noting that children under the age of 18 represent half of the population living in multidimensional poverty, totaling 566 million young individuals.
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