India has emerged among top countries with high income and wealth inequality but the share of the population living in multidimensional poverty fell from 25 to 15 percent between 2015-16 and 2019-21, the UNDP said in a new report.
The 2024 Asia-Pacific Human Development Report, launched on Monday, paints a qualified picture of long-term progress but also persistent disparity and widespread disruption, foreseeing a turbulent development landscape and urgently calling for new directions to boost human development, according to media reports.
This persistent wealth divide is driven by various factors, with globalisation and technological advances creating new opportunities for some groups, while leaving others behind.
As per ILO data, in Asia and the Pacific, labour has a lower income share than the world average, leading to workers having less income to save and invest, further worsening inequality.
Inequality is further exacerbated by corruption, and weak tax policy and administration, as well as by the lack of effective social safety nets, the report said.
India’s remarkable income and poverty progress
In India, between 2000 and 2022, per capita income soared from $442 to $2,389. And between 2004 and 2019, poverty rates (based on the international poverty measure of $2.15 per day) plummeted from 40 to 10 percent.
Moreover, between 2015-16 and 2019-21, the share of the population living in multidimensional poverty fell from 25 to 15 percent.
Despite these successes, poverty remains persistently concentrated in states that are home to 45 percent of the country’s population but contain 62 percent of its poor.
Rising income inequality in India
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.
Amidst rapid growth but persistent disparity, the income distribution has become more skewed. The top 10 percent of the population gets 57 percent of the national income, while the top 1 percent gets 22 percent – one of the most unequal income distributions.
The top 10 percent of the population controls 65 percent of India’s total wealth. There is growing evidence of a strong rise in wealth inequality, mainly in the post-2000 period.
Titled ‘Making our Future: New Directions for Human Development in Asia and the Pacific’, the new report argues that unmet aspirations, heightened human insecurity, and a potentially more turbulent future create an urgent need for change.
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