According to a UN report, India ranks among the five countries with the largest number of people living in poverty. The report reveals that globally, 1.1 billion individuals—over half of whom are minors—are experiencing acute poverty.
The latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was released on Thursday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in collaboration with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) from the University of Oxford.
The report indicates that 1.1 billion people live in acute poverty, with 40 percent residing in nations affected by war, instability, or low levels of peace, according to various conflict-related datasets.
India has approximately 234 million people living in poverty, categorized under a medium Human Development Index (HDI), placing it among the five countries with the highest poverty rates. The other countries in this group are Pakistan (93 million), Ethiopia (86 million), Nigeria (74 million), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (66 million), all of which have low HDI scores.
Collectively, these five nations account for nearly half (48.1 percent) of the world’s poor population. The report also highlights that an alarming 455 million of the impoverished individuals reside in countries facing violent conflict, which undermines and even reverses progress made in poverty alleviation.
Achim Steiner, the UNDP Administrator, emphasized that conflicts have escalated in recent years, leading to record casualties and displacing millions, severely disrupting lives and livelihoods. He stated, “Our new research shows that of the 1.1 billion people living in multidimensional poverty, almost half a billion live in countries exposed to violent conflict. We must accelerate efforts to support them.”
The report underscores that more than half of the 1.1 billion poor individuals are children under the age of 18, totaling 584 million. Globally, 27.9 percent of children live in poverty, compared to 13.5 percent of adults.