By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – World Bank data on Monday showed that India’s extreme poverty rate declined from 27.1% in 2011-12 to 5.3% in 2022-23.
The development came as the World Bank has revised upwards its threshold poverty line to $3 per day.
India has lifted 171 million people from extreme poverty in the decade between 2011-12 and 2022-23, as per the international financial institution.
In contrast, 45% of Pakistan’s population lives in poverty, with 16.5% classified as living in extreme poverty, as per the report.
The World Bank’s latest projections indicated that Pakistan’s poverty rate remains at 42.4%, with an estimated 1.9 million additional people expected to fall into poverty in 2024-25., “virtually unchanged from last year.”
The country’s 2.6% economic growth is also deemed “insufficient to reduce poverty.” “With population growing at nearly 2 per cent annually, this translates to 1.9 million additional people falling into poverty this year,” the report said.
World Bank’s report mentioned that the agriculture sector faces significant challenges in Pakistan as in 2025, weather conditions deteriorated with a 40 per cent reduction in rainfall, alongside pest attacks and shifting production choices.
“Crop yields are projected to decline, ranging from 29.6 per cent for cotton to 1.2 per cent for rice, limiting sectoral growth to under 2%,” the report stated.
