India’s poverty rate at the World Bank’s $4.20-a-day line fell to 16.1% in 2023-24, while youth unemployment later reached 15.9% in the first quarter of fiscal 2026-27, underscoring uneven economic gains.
At $4.20, a lower-middle-income comparison line expressed in 2021 purchasing power parity (PPP), the proportion of Indians in poverty dropped from 57.7% in 2011-12 to 16.1% in 2023-24. The World Bank’s April 2026 India Development Update estimates 496 million people rose above the threshold, though 232 million remained below it. PPP adjusts for price differences among countries, so the dollar figure is not converted at market exchange rates. The calculations draw on consumption surveys from 2011-12 and 2023-24.
The same update separates those results from extreme poverty, measured at $3 a day. That rate declined from 27.1% to 2.6% over the survey years, with about 35 million people still below the line. In its October 2026 Poverty and Equity Brief, the World Bank placed India’s poverty reduction among the fastest recorded worldwide.
The October report linked the improvement mainly to stronger consumption, a larger workforce and expanded transfers such as food subsidies. It estimated employment grew by about 134 million between 2017 and 2023, with rural women moving into paid jobs accounting for much of the rise. The bank also said real earnings were broadly unchanged.
The labor figures cover a later period. Youth unemployment was 15.9% in the first quarter of fiscal 2026-27, up from 14.6% in the first quarter of fiscal 2025-26; the report singled out rural young women. In 2023-24, poverty at $4.20 affected 19.3% of rural residents and 8.6% of urban residents. At the $3 threshold, rates were 3.1% and 1.4%, respectively.
About 57% of poor Indians lived in the continuous area between Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the October report said. It projects the $4.20 poverty rate at 14.2% in 2026 and 12.1% in 2028; these are estimates, not observed results.
