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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesYes—but only as a dated, specific estimate. An IMF working paper published April 5, 2022, estimated that 0.8% of India’s population lived below its $1.90-a-day extreme-poverty line in 2019, measured in 2011 purchasing power parity (PPP) dollars. It said the rate remained at that level in 2020, with food transfers helping keep it low. That is not the World Bank’s latest estimate: its June 2025 update puts India’s 2022–23 rate at 5.3% under the current $3-a-day line in 2021 PPP dollars.
What did the IMF paper actually claim?
The paper, Pandemic, Poverty, and Inequality: Evidence from India, by Surjit Bhalla, Karan Bhasin, and Arvind Virmani, was published as an IMF Working Paper on April 5, 2022. It estimated India’s extreme-poverty rate at 0.8% in 2019 and reported that it remained at that level in 2020.
The estimate used a poverty threshold of $1.90 per person per day in 2011 PPP terms. The paper’s authors attributed the rate remaining low in pandemic year 2020 in part to food transfers. So “below 1%” is a fair description of the paper’s estimate, but only when its year, threshold, and treatment of transfers are made clear.
What is the latest World Bank estimate?
The World Bank’s June 2025 update set its international extreme-poverty line at $3.00 per person per day in 2021 PPP dollars. Using its revised India series, the Bank estimates that 5.3% of the population lived below that line in 2022–23. Under the former $2.15 line in 2017 PPP dollars, the updated series gives an estimate of 2.3% for the same year.
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| Estimate | Rate and reference year | Poverty line | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| IMF Working Paper, 2022 | 0.8% in 2019; reported at the same level in 2020 | $1.90 per person per day, 2011 PPP | Paper’s estimate; food transfers cited as instrumental in maintaining the 2020 rate |
| World Bank revised India series, 2025 | 5.3% in 2022–23 | $3.00 per person per day, 2021 PPP | India 2022–23 Household Consumption and Expenditure Survey; MMRP-based welfare aggregate |
| World Bank revised India series, 2025 | 2.3% in 2022–23 | $2.15 per person per day, 2017 PPP | Same revised MMRP-based series, expressed at the former international line |
Sources: IMF paper; World Bank June 2025 update and India methodology note.
Why are the rates different?
These figures are not competing measurements of the same year using the same poverty test. Three differences matter:
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- Reference years: The IMF paper reports estimates for 2019 and 2020. The updated World Bank India estimates cited here are for 2022–23.
- Poverty-line and PPP vintages: The IMF used $1.90 in 2011 PPP terms. The World Bank later used $2.15 in 2017 PPP terms and, in June 2025, revised its international line to $3.00 in 2021 PPP terms. PPP dollars account for differences in purchasing power between countries; they are not ordinary U.S. dollars converted at market exchange rates.
- Survey and consumption measurement: The World Bank’s revised India series incorporates the 2022–23 Household Consumption and Expenditure Survey, which uses the Modified Mixed Reference Period (MMRP). Earlier Portal estimates used consumption measures based on the Uniform Reference Period (URP), so the Bank adjusted the series for comparability. MMRP uses different recall periods for different categories of expenditure, meaning the revised series is not simply an unchanged continuation of the earlier one.
In the revised MMRP-based series, the World Bank reports a decline from 16.2% in 2011–12 to 2.3% in 2022–23 at the former $2.15 (2017 PPP) line. At the newer $3.00 (2021 PPP) line, its 2022–23 estimate is 5.3%. Each rate answers a question tied to its own threshold and measurement basis.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What does “extreme poverty” mean here?
The international poverty line is designed to support comparisons across countries, not to replace a country’s own poverty measure. The World Bank says national poverty lines are more appropriate for country-specific policy dialogue and targeting programs to reach people in that country’s context. Its current lower-middle-income-country benchmark is $4.20 per person per day in 2021 PPP dollars; that is a different benchmark, not the international extreme-poverty line.
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Neither the IMF’s below-1% estimate nor the World Bank’s later figures should be read as a complete measure of deprivation in India. They describe the share below a specified consumption-based international threshold. For an assessment of poverty in a particular national policy context, the applicable national line and its methodology matter. See the World Bank’s explanations of international and national poverty lines and poverty measurement.
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