Extreme poverty

Why it matters

The international poverty line is the World Bank's measure of the poorest people in the world. It is set from the national poverty lines of low-income countries, so it marks what the poorest countries treat as the minimum to live on. The World Bank counts the people below it to follow progress towards its aim of a world free of poverty, and the Sustainable Development Report uses the same $3.00 line for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1, No Poverty.

Because the line is in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) dollars, India's share can be compared directly with other countries'. The World Bank also publishes higher lines: $4.20 a day for lower-middle-income countries such as India, and $8.30 for upper-middle-income countries. These show how many people have left extreme poverty but still live on little.

What it is

The World Bank counts a person as extremely poor when their consumption is below the international poverty line of US$3.00 a day. The line is the median of the national poverty lines of 23 low-income countries. That median came to $3.04, rounded to $3.00.

The dollars are Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) dollars at 2021 prices. PPP rates put every country's consumption in comparable terms, so one line can be applied to all countries. The rates come from the International Comparison Program, which compares the prices of thousands of matched goods and services across countries.

For India the World Bank uses spending recorded in the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) of the National Statistics Office (NSO). The 2022-23 survey records spending only on the Modified Mixed Reference Period (MMRP): households recall their spending over the last 7 days, 30 days or 365 days, depending on the item. The chart starts a new line at the 2022-23 survey because the survey design changed; the World Bank's October 2026 brief calls the surveys broadly comparable on the MMRP measure and compares 2011 with 2023 directly. A lower share is better.

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