As per World Bank's thresholds, in 2022, over 23.9 percent of India's population was living on less than 3 U.S. dollars per day. When the 4.20 U.S. dollars per day threshold is considered, the share increased to over 5.3 percent. The poverty line of 4.20 per day is set by the World Bank to be representative of the definitions of poverty adopted in lower-middle-income countries.

As of 2024, the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) index score for reducing poverty (SDG 1) ranges between ** and ** for Indian states and union territories. Among the states, Tamil Nadu and Telangana were the front-runners with a score of ** and **. Among the union territories, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu were the front-runner with a score of **.

In financial year 2023, Uttar Pradesh, India's most populated state had over ** percent people living under the poverty line of **** U.S. dollars per day. A decade ago the state had over ** percent of its population living under the threshold. The state of Bihar also witnessed a significant reduction in poverty rates from over ** percent in the financial year 2012 to over ** percent in the financial year 2023.

In 2022, the total male population living in poverty in India was about ** million. By contrast, the number of females in poverty during the same time period was around ** million.

As of 2022, over ********** children between the ages of 10 to 14 years were affected by poverty. In general, age groups from 0 to 19 years were most impacted by extreme poverty.

According to the Global Hunger Index 2024, hunger worldwide decreased since 2000, but the pace of the reduction has slowed since 2016. In the Middle East and North Africa, for instance, the hunger index value was the same in 2024 as in 2016, and it had even increased marginally in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2024, Somalia had the highest index score worldwide, meaning it was the country where hunger was most prevalent. The World Hunger Index combines four indicators: undernourishment, child stunting, child wasting, and child mortality.

As of 2024, the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) index score for zero hunger ranges between ** and ** for Indian states and union territories. The union territory of Puducherry had the highest score of ** and among the states, Kerala was the front-runner with a score of **.

From 2019 to 2021, the share of multidimensional poor in the total population of Delhi sank to **** percent during the NFHS round of 2021 as compared to **** percent from 2015 to 2016. It is expected to further drop to *** percent during 2022 and 2023. The proportion of multidimensionally poor in the population is arrived at by dividing the number of multi-dimensionally poor persons by the total population.

According to the Global Hunger Index 2024, which was adopted by the International Food Policy Research Institute, Somalia was the most affected by hunger and malnutrition, with an index of 44.1. Yemen and Chad followed behind. The World Hunger Index combines three indicators: undernourishment, child underweight, and child mortality. Sub-Saharan Africa most affected The index is dominated by countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the region, more than one fifth of the population is undernourished . In terms of individuals, however, South Asia has the highest number of undernourished people. Globally, there are 735 million people that are considered undernourished or starving. A lack of food is increasing in over 20 countries worldwide. Undernourishment worldwide The term malnutrition includes both undernutrition and overnutrition. Undernutrition occurs when an individual cannot maintain normal bodily functions such as growth, recovering from disease, and both learning and physical work. Some conditions such as diarrhea, malaria, and HIV/AIDS can all have a negative impact on undernutrition. Rural and agricultural communities can be especially susceptible to hunger during certain seasons. The annual hunger gap occurs when a family’s food supply may run out before the next season’s harvest is available and can result in malnutrition. Nevertheless, the prevalence of people worldwide that are undernourished has decreased over the last decades, from 18.7 percent in 1990-92 to 9.2 percent in 2022, but it has slightly increased since the outbreak of COVID-19. According to the Global Hunger Index, the reduction of global hunger has stagnated over the past decade.

In 2024, India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate was around **** percent, the highest in South Asia. In contrast, Nepal reported the lowest real GDP growth rate in the region at approximately **** percent that year, but it was forecasted to increase to **** percent in 2026.Economy in South Asia In general, South Asia encompasses Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, India and Bhutan. In 2020, India had a GDP of over *** trillion U.S. dollars, while Bangladesh and Sri Lanka followed. The Maldives and Bhutan were among the countries with the lowest GDP in the Asia-Pacific region. In South Asia, the main economic activities include the services sector as well as the industrial and manufacturing sectors.Society in South AsiaFrom the South Asian countries, Bangladesh had the highest share of people living below the poverty line. The Maldives and Sri Lanka exhibited the highest and second-highest GDP per capita among the South Asian countries in 2021.

According to the Global Hunger Index, India had an index value of *****in 2025. The composition of the index was a combination of different indicators such as undernourishment, child underweight, and child mortality. India's score indicates a serious level of hunger crisis, placing the country at a position of ***** out of 123 countries that year. However, the country had improved the situation from ** index points falling in the category of alarming level in 2000.

In 2024, the Gini coefficient of wealth in India stood at **. This was a slight decrease from previous years. The trend since 2005 shows rising inequalities among the Indian population. What is Gini coefficient of wealth? The Gini coefficient is a measure of wealth inequality. The coefficient of the Gini index ranges from 0 to 1 with 0 representing perfect equality and 1 representing perfect inequality. Wealth and income distribution and inequality can however vary greatly. In 2023, South Africa topped the list of the most unequal countries in the world in terms of income inequality. Why do economic inequalities persist in India? By the end of 2022, the richest citizens in the country owned more than ** percent of the country’s wealth. Asia’s two richest men Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani are Indians. The number of high-net-worth individuals has continuously increased over the last decades. While millions of people escaped poverty in the country in the last few years, the wealth distribution between rich and poor remains skewed. Crony capitalism and the accumulation of wealth through inheritance are some of the factors behind this widening gap.

The statistic shows the national debt in India from 2020 to 2023 in relation to gross domestic product (GDP), with projections up until 2030. In 2023, the national debt of India amounted to about 81.23 percent of the gross domestic product. India’s economy on the rise India is one of the most populous countries in the world, and although a large share of inhabitants are living below the poverty line – or probably due to this fact –, the country’s economy is growing steadily. India’s GDP growth is expected to remain steady at more than 7 percent for the next few years, which is almost double that of the global GDP, and both GDP and GDP per capita are expected to increase significantly. Almost half of India’s workforce is employed in the agricultural sector, but services and industry share the other half quite equally. India’s GDP is mostly generated by the services sector, which includes transport, retailing, and offering services in the hospitality and tourism industry. India’s trade balance has been in the red for a decade now, but seems to recover slowly. A trade deficit usually means that a country’s import costs are higher than the amount of money generated with exporting goods. India’s imports could not be compensated for by the country’s exports, as imports have been consistently, even if only slightly, higher over the years both in terms of volume and value. Still, all signs point to India’s economy growing and thriving, reducing India’s debt (as seen above) and unemployment rate, enabling the inhabitants to create a better life for themselves.

In 2024, the gross domestic product (GDP) of China amounted to around 18.7 trillion U.S. dollars. In comparison to the GDP of the other BRIC countries India, Russia and Brazil, China came first that year and second in the world GDP ranking. The stagnation of China's GDP in U.S. dollar terms in 2022 and 2023 was mainly due to the appreciation of the U.S. dollar. China's real GDP growth was 5.4 percent in 2023 and 5.0 percent in 2024. In 2024, per capita GDP in China reached around 13,300 U.S. dollars. Economic performance in China Gross domestic product (GDP) is a primary economic indicator. It measures the total value of all goods and services produced in an economy over a certain time period. China's economy used to grow quickly in the past, but the growth rate of China’s real GDP gradually slowed down in recent years, and year-on-year GDP growth is forecasted to range at only around four percent in the years after 2024. Since 2010, China has been the world’s second-largest economy, surpassing Japan.China’s emergence in the world’s economy has a lot to do with its status as the ‘world’s factory’. Since 2013, China is the largest export country in the world. Some argue that it is partly due to the undervalued Chinese currency. The Big Mac Index, a simplified and informal way to measure the purchasing power parity between different currencies, indicates that the Chinese currency yuan was roughly undervalued by 38 percent in 2024. GDP development Although the impressive economic development in China has led millions of people out of poverty, China is still not in the league of industrialized countries on the per capita basis. To name one example, the U.S. per capita economic output was more than six times as large as in China in 2024. Meanwhile, the Chinese society faces increased income disparities. The Gini coefficient of China, a widely used indicator of economic inequality, has been larger than 0.45 over the last decade, whereas 0.40 is the warning level for social unrest.

Literacy in India has been increasing as more and more people receive a better education, but it is still far from all-encompassing. In 2023, the degree of literacy in India was about 77 percent, with the majority of literate Indians being men. It is estimated that the global literacy rate for people aged 15 and above is about 86 percent. How to read a literacy rateIn order to identify potential for intellectual and educational progress, the literacy rate of a country covers the level of education and skills acquired by a country’s inhabitants. Literacy is an important indicator of a country’s economic progress and the standard of living – it shows how many people have access to education. However, the standards to measure literacy cannot be universally applied. Measures to identify and define illiterate and literate inhabitants vary from country to country: In some, illiteracy is equated with no schooling at all, for example. Writings on the wallGlobally speaking, more men are able to read and write than women, and this disparity is also reflected in the literacy rate in India – with scarcity of schools and education in rural areas being one factor, and poverty another. Especially in rural areas, women and girls are often not given proper access to formal education, and even if they are, many drop out. Today, India is already being surpassed in this area by other emerging economies, like Brazil, China, and even by most other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. To catch up, India now has to offer more educational programs to its rural population, not only on how to read and write, but also on traditional gender roles and rights.