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.

India IN: Increase in Poverty Gap at $3.20: Poverty Line Due To Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: USD data was reported at 8.144 USD in 2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 7.007 USD for 2009. India IN: Increase in Poverty Gap at $3.20: Poverty Line Due To Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: USD data is updated yearly, averaging 8.144 USD from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2011, with 7 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8.846 USD in 2006 and a record low of 6.794 USD in 2000. India IN: Increase in Poverty Gap at $3.20: Poverty Line Due To Out-of-Pocket Health Care Expenditure: 2011 PPP: USD data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s India – Table IN.World Bank.WDI: Poverty. Increase in poverty gap at $3.20 ($ 2011 PPP) poverty line due to out-of-pocket health care expenditure, expressed in US dollars (2011 PPP). The poverty gap increase due to out-of-pocket health spending is one way to measure how much out-of-pocket health spending pushes people below or further below the poverty line (the difference in the poverty gap due to out-of-pocket health spending being included or excluded from the measure of household welfare). This difference corresponds to the total out-of-pocket health spending for households that are already below the poverty line, to the amount that exceeds the shortfall between the poverty line and total consumption for households that are impoverished by out-of-pocket health spending and to zero for households whose consumption is above the poverty line after accounting for out-of-pocket health spending.; ; World Health Organization and World Bank. 2019. Global Monitoring Report on Financial Protection in Health 2019.; Weighted average;

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.

A liter of milk costs around ** Indian rupees, whereas one egg costs approximately ***** rupees in India in 2025. ** rupees translates to around ***** dollars a day, the poverty line set by the World Bank (in terms of Purchasing Power Parity), which signifies extreme poverty.

IN：Increase in Poverty Gap at $3.20：因自付医保低于贫困线：2011年购买力平价：美元在12-01-2011达8.144美元，相较于12-01-2009的7.007美元有所增长。IN：Increase in Poverty Gap at $3.20：因自付医保低于贫困线：2011年购买力平价：美元数据按年更新，12-01-2000至12-01-2011期间平均值为8.144美元，共7份观测结果。该数据的历史最高值出现于12-01-2006，达8.846美元，而历史最低值则出现于12-01-2000，为6.794美元。CEIC提供的IN：Increase in Poverty Gap at $3.20：因自付医保低于贫困线：2011年购买力平价：美元数据处于定期更新的状态，数据来源于World Bank，数据归类于全球数据库的印度 – 表 IN.世行.WDI：贫困。

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.

In the financial year 2021, a majority of Indian households fell under the aspirers category, earning between ******* and ******* Indian rupees a year. On the other hand, about ***** percent of households that same year, accounted for the rich, earning over * million rupees annually. The middle class more than doubled that year compared to ** percent in financial year 2005. Middle-class income group and the COVID-19 pandemic During the COVID-19 pandemic specifically during the lockdown in March 2020, loss of incomes hit the entire household income spectrum. However, research showed the severest affected groups were the upper middle- and middle-class income brackets. In addition, unemployment rates were rampant nationwide that further lead to a dismally low GDP. Despite job recoveries over the last few months, improvement in incomes were insignificant. Economic inequality While India maybe one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it is also one of the most vulnerable and severely afflicted economies in terms of economic inequality. The vast discrepancy between the rich and poor has been prominent since the last ***** decades. The rich continue to grow richer at a faster pace while the impoverished struggle more than ever before to earn a minimum wage. The widening gaps in the economic structure affect women and children the most. This is a call for reinforcement in in the country’s social structure that emphasizes access to quality education and universal healthcare services.

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.

The estimated per capita income across Sikkim was the highest among Indian states at around *** thousand Indian rupees in the financial year 2024. Meanwhile, it was the lowest in the northern state of Bihar at over ** thousand rupees. India’s youngest state, Telangana stood in the fifth place. The country's average per capita income that year was an estimated *** thousand rupees. What is per capita income? Per capita income is a measure of the average income earned per person in a given area in a certain period. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. If absolute numbers are noted, India’s per capita income doubled from the financial year 2015 to 2023. Wealth inequality However, as per economists, the increase in the per capita income of a country does not always reflect an increase in the income of the entire population. Wealth distribution in India remains highly skewed. The average income hides the disbursal and inequality in a society. Especially in a society like India where the top one percent owned over ** percent of the total wealth in 2022.