Compare income-based and multidimensional measures of poverty. Why do estimates for India differ so widely across poverty lines and methods?

Poverty can be measured through a household's spending or through deprivations in daily life. On the World Bank's $3.00/day line, India's extreme poverty was only 2.6% in 2023, but 16.1% of people lived below $4.20/day [1]. The headline figure depends on the measuring rod as much as on actual conditions.

Income-based vs multidimensional measures

Basis	Income/consumption (World Bank)	Multidimensional (NITI Aayog MPI)
Measures	Spending below a money line	Overlapping deprivations in health, education, living standards
Data	Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES)	NFHS-3/4/5
Strength	Comparable across countries; tracks earnings	Captures access to services
Limitation	Sensitive to line, PPP, recall period	Misses income insecurity
India	2.6% at $3.00 (2023) [1]	29.17% → 11.28% (2013-14 to 2022-23) [2]

• The 24.82 crore people who escaped poverty in this period are counted on the multidimensional measure, not on income [3].

Why estimates differ so widely

• Choice of line: The same 2023 data give 2.6% at $3.00 and 16.1% at $4.20 [1]. A large group lives just above the extreme poverty line. At the $8.30 upper-middle-income line, far more Indians would count as poor [4].
• PPP revision: In 2025 the World Bank moved its lines from 2017 to 2021 PPP, replacing $2.15 with $3.00 [4]. India's poverty rate changed even though nothing changed on the ground.
• Survey method: HCES 2022-23 used only the Modified Mixed Reference Period (MMRP), which records more spending. The World Bank recalculated 2011-12 on this basis [5]. The revised 2011-12 baseline at $2.15 is 16.2%, against 2.3% in 2022-23 [6]. Part of this fall reflects the method change, not only real change.
• Projection vs measurement: NITI's MPI values for 2013-14 and 2022-23 are projected from NFHS rounds, not directly surveyed [2].
• Different years and agencies: The World Bank brief (2023) and the PIB factsheet (2022-23) use different reference years and lines, so their figures differ [1][6].

Two separate surveys, measuring different things, both show a steep fall. The decline is real, but its size is contested. MoSPI should keep the HCES survey method fixed across rounds. NITI Aayog should report state-wise shares below $4.20 and $8.30 alongside the MPI. This would track poverty "in all its forms" under SDG-1 and support the shift from poverty alleviation to prosperity under Viksit Bharat @2047.