GDP is an important indicator of an economy's size and performance.
But it doesn't tell the complete story of how people are living.
For that, poverty reduction provides an essential perspective.
The World Bank's October 2026 India Poverty & Equity Brief reveals just how significant India's
progress has been.
In 2011, 57.7% of Indians lived below the $4.20/day lower-middle-income poverty line.
By 2023, that proportion had fallen to 16.1%.
An estimated 496 million people moved above the threshold.
Extreme poverty declined from 27.1% to just 2.6% during the same period.
These figures are supported by improvements in multidimensional poverty and significant
employment growth.
The underlying factors include stronger household consumption, rising employment and
expanded social protection.
This is why India's development story deserves to be assessed through more than conventional
economic rankings.
A larger economy is an important achievement.
But an economy in which a substantially smaller proportion of people live in poverty represents
an equally powerful measure of progress.
And India's achievements on this front are remarkable.