One in 4 Indians struggle to meet basic needs

India Jul 04, 2025

India has made big progress in cutting extreme poverty—now only 5% live on less than $3 a day, down from 27% in 2011.
But the World Bank says about one in four Indians (over 35 crore people) still can't access basics like decent food, housing, healthcare, or education.

Deep inequality underlines the reality

To better reflect India's reality, the World Bank suggests raising the poverty line to $4.20 a day.
This move spotlights deep inequality: the richest 1% own more than 40% of India's wealth while the bottom half share just over 6%.
Even though multidimensional poverty dropped to 11.3% by 2022, economic struggles remain—especially with high urban costs and shaky rural incomes making it tough for many to get ahead.