13.5 Crore Indians Move Out Of Multidimensional Poverty In 5 Years; UP Sees Most Improvement

A record 13.5 crore people in India moved out of multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21, according to the Niti Aayog’s report titled ‘National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A Progress Review 2023’ released on Monday. It said Uttar Pradesh registered the largest decline in the number of poor.

The country has registered a significant decline of 9.89 percentage points in the number of India’s multidimensionally poor from 24.85 per cent in 2015-16 to 14.96 per cent during 2019-2021, said the report released by Niti Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Bery.

The National Multidimentional Poverty Index (MPI) measures simultaneous deprivations across three equally weighted dimensions — health, education, and standard of living that are represented by 12 SDG-aligned indicators. These include nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, maternal health, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets, and bank accounts.

“Marked improvement is witnessed across all the 12 indicators,” the report said.

According to the latest report, the rural areas witnessed the fastest decline in poverty from 32.59 per cent to 19.28 per cent. During the same period, the urban areas saw a reduction in poverty from 8.65 per cent to 5.27 per cent.

“Uttar Pradesh registered the largest decline in number of poor with 3.43 crore people escaping multidimensional poverty,” said the report.

Providing multidimensional poverty estimates for the 36 states and Union Territories and 707 administrative districts, the report also said the fastest reduction in the proportion of multidimensional poor was observed in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Rajasthan.

“Between 2015-16 and 2019-21, the MPI value has nearly halved from 0.117 to 0.066 and the intensity of poverty has reduced from 47 per cent to 44 per cent, thereby setting India on the path of achieving the SDG Target 1.2 (of reducing multidimensional poverty by at least half) much ahead of the stipulated timeline of 2030,” according to the Niti Aayog’s report.

It also demonstrates the government’s focus on ensuring sustainable and equitable development and eradicating poverty by 2030, thereby adhering to its commitment towards the SDGs.