India Has Officially Eliminated 'Extreme Poverty', Says US Report

India has officially eliminated 'extreme poverty', American think tank Brookings said in the report, adding that this was witnessed after a sharp decline in headcount poverty ratio and a steady increase in household consumption.

The report said that this has been possible due to the government's strong policy thrust on redistribution, which has led to strong inclusive growth in India over the last decade.

The Brookings report has been authored by economists Surjit Bhalla and Karan Bhasin.

The assessment which is based on the recently released consumption survey, also states that there has been an unprecedented decline in urban and rural poverty. Bhalla and Bhasin note that the data shows a strikingly lower number of poor people in India than those estimated by the World Bank.

According to Brookings, high growth and large decline in inequality have combined to eliminate poverty in India for the Purchasing Power Parity USD 1.9 poverty line.

The Headcount Poverty Ratio (HCR) for the 2011 PPP USD 1.9 poverty line has declined from 12.2 percent in 2011-12 to 2 percent in 2022-23, equivalent to 0.93 percentage points (ppt) per year.

The report stated that the decrease in the Headcount Ratio (HCR) at the higher poverty line is noteworthy. This is because in the past, it took India 30 years to observe a similar reduction in poverty levels, whereas now it has been achieved in just 11 years.

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