Eight Indian states have more poor than 26 African countries -Governance Now

Eight Indian states have more poor than 26 African countries

Half of the world’s poor live in the South Asia

GN Bureau | July 17, 2010

There are more poor in eight Indian states tahn there are in 26 African countries, according to a report brought out by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Oxford university.

The study says that there are more poor people as per Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) in eight Indian states - a total of around 421 million in the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal than in the 26 poorest African countries combined (410 million).

The study mentioned that the population of the poorest state Bihar with 95 million people exceeds the total of nine of the ten poorest African countries.

The study reported that the Scheduled Tribes (ST) have the highest MPI (0.482), almost the same as Mozambique and the Scheduled Castes (SC) have a headcount of 66 percent and their MPI is a bit better than Nigeria. “58 percent of other Backward Castes are MPI poor,” the report added.

However the report mentioned that the states like Delhi, Kerala, Goa, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have least number of poor people in India. Other ‘top ten’ states with the least number of poor in India are Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Haryana and Gujarat.

The study analysed that South Asia and Africa are two places where poverty are widespread as half of the world’s poor live in South Asia (51 percent or 844 million people) and one quarter in Africa (28 percent or 458 million).

The MPI has taken into account a range of factors or “deprivations” at the household level: from education to health outcomes to assets and services to calculate the number of poor people around the world. The multidimensional approach to assessing poverty has been adapted in Mexico. Now Chile and Colombia are also trying to use the same figure to calculate the number of poor people.

The new index will come in the forthcoming edition of the UNDP Human Development Report in October this year and will the Human Poverty Index, which had been included in these reports since 1997.

Read the report

Comments

Other News

When Nandini Satpathy told Biju Patnaik: ‘I’ll sit on the chair you are sitting on’

Nandini Satpathy: The Iron Lady of Orissa By Pallavi Rebbapragada Simon and Schuster India, 321 pages, Rs 765

Elections 2024: 1,351 candidates in fray for Phase 3

As many as 1,351 candidates from 12 states /UTs are contesting elections in Phase 3 of Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The number includes eight contesting candidates for the adjourned poll in 29-Betul (ST) PC of Madhya Pradesh. Additionally, one candidate from Surat PC in Gujarat has been elected unopp

2023-24 net direct tax collections exceed budget estimates by 7.40%

The provisional figures of direct tax collections for the financial year 2023-24 show that net collections are at Rs. 19.58 lakh crore, 17.70% more than Rs. 16.64 lakh crore in 2022-23. The Budget Estimates (BE) for Direct Tax revenue in the Union Budget for FY 2023-24 were fixed at Rs. 18.

‘World’s biggest festival of democracy’ begins

The much-awaited General Elections of 2024, billed as the world’s biggest festival of democracy, began on Friday with Phase 1 of polling in 102 Parliamentary Constituencies (the highest among all seven phases) in 21 States/ UTs and 92 Assembly Constituencies in the State Assembly Elections in Arunach

A sustainability warrior’s heartfelt stories of life’s fleeting moments

Fit In, Stand Out, Walk: Stories from a Pushed Away Hill By Shailini Sheth Amin Notion Press, Rs 399

What EU’s AI Act means for the world

The recent European Union (EU) policy on artificial intelligence (AI) will be a game-changer and likely to become the de-facto standard not only for the conduct of businesses but also for the way consumers think about AI tools. Governments across the globe have been grappling with the rapid rise of AI tool