India among countries with high income and wealth inequality: UNDP report

India, while emerging as one of the countries with high income and wealth inequality, has experienced a significant reduction in multidimensional poverty, according to the 2024 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The report, titled 'Making our Future: New Directions for Human Development in Asia and the Pacific,' highlights India's progress but emphasises the need for urgent change to address persistent disparities.

Between 2015-16 and 2019-21, India witnessed a notable decline in the share of the population living in multidimensional poverty, dropping from 25 per cent to 15 per cent. Despite this improvement, poverty remains concentrated in states housing 45 per cent of the country's population but containing 62 per cent of its poor, with vulnerable groups like women, informal workers, and inter-state migrants at a higher risk of falling into poverty.

“In addition, many other people are very vulnerable, hovering just above the poverty line. The groups at greater risk of falling back into poverty include women, informal workers, and inter-state migrants,” the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said in its report.

The report notes that India has significantly contributed to the growth of the global middle class, with an expected 24 per cent contribution to global middle-class growth, representing 192 million people.

While India's per capita income surged from $442 to $2,389 between 2000 and 2022, and poverty rates dropped from 40 per cent to 10 per cent between 2004 and 2019, wealth inequality has risen post-2000. The income distribution has become more skewed, with women comprising only 23 per cent of the labor force.

The Asia-Pacific region, despite accounting for two-thirds of global economic growth in 2023, faces worsening income and wealth disparities, particularly in South Asia. The report highlights that over 185 million people still live in extreme poverty (earning below $2.15 a day), a number expected to increase following the economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The UNDP report underscores the need to prioritise investments in human development, focusing on tailored pathways for each nation. It calls for three new directions in human development: placing people at the heart of development, recalibrating growth strategies to generate more jobs while respecting the environment, and focusing on the politics of reform and the science of delivery to turn ideas into practice.

(With PTI inputs.)