CHENNAI: According to a World Bank report, India has the most number of people who live below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day. The report, titled ‘Taking on inequality’ points out while taking about the distribution of the world’s poor that while India is not the leader when it comes to the percentage of its citizens living in poverty, it leads in sheer volume due to the size of its population.
“While half the world’s poor live in Sub-Saharan Africa, four of the top 10 countries by the number of the poor are not in this region, namely, Bangladesh, China, India, and Indonesia,” pointed out the report. But unlike its Asian neighbours, India leads the pack in the sheer number of people living below the international poverty line.
“Despite the relatively low headcount ratios, these four countries have large populations. India is by far the country with the largest number of people living under the international US$1.90-aday poverty line, 224 million, more than 2.5 times as many as the 86 million in Nigeria, which has the second-largest population of the poor worldwide,” pointed out the report. According to the report, Sub- Saharan Africa has one in two of the poor worldwide, while India accounts for one in three. “Overall, 243.5 million people live in countries with poverty headcount ratios above 50%, while around 356. million live in economies where the ratio ranges from 30% to 50%,” it said.