60-second revision
- Poverty committees: Alagh (1979, calorie norm 2,400 rural / 2,100 urban), Lakdawala (1993), Tendulkar (2009), Rangarajan (2014).
- 2011-12 poverty: 21.9% by Tendulkar method, 29.5% by Rangarajan method.
- World Bank international poverty line: USD 3.00 a day (2021 PPP) since June 2025, up from USD 2.15 (2017 PPP).
- NITI Aayog's National MPI: 3 dimensions, 12 indicators (global MPI has 10; India adds maternal health and bank accounts).
- PLFS (since 2017-18) is conducted by the NSO, MoSPI. Unemployment rate = unemployed / labour force x 100.
- VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 replaced MGNREGA (2005) from 1 July 2026 and guarantees 125 days of wage work per rural household a year.
- Census 2011: sex ratio 943; Kerala highest (1,084), Haryana lowest (879). 1921 = 'Year of the Great Divide'.
- Census 2027 is India's first digital census, with caste enumeration; reference date 1 March 2027 (1 October 2026 for snow-bound areas).
Measuring poverty
Absolute poverty is the inability to afford a minimum basket of goods, measured against a poverty line. Relative poverty compares a person with others in society. India's official lines have been based on monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) from household surveys.
| Committee | Year | Key idea |
|---|---|---|
| Alagh Task Force | 1979 | Calorie-based lines: 2,400 kcal rural, 2,100 kcal urban |
| Lakdawala | 1993 | State-specific lines updated with state price indices |
| Tendulkar | 2009 | Dropped calorie anchor; single basket including health and education spending; 21.9% poor in 2011-12 |
| Rangarajan | 2014 | Higher line with food and essential non-food needs; 29.5% poor in 2011-12 |
Internationally, the World Bank's extreme poverty line was revised in June 2025 to USD 3.00 per person per day in 2021 purchasing power parity terms, replacing USD 2.15 (2017 PPP).
Multidimensional poverty
Income alone misses deprivations in health, schooling and living conditions. The global Multidimensional Poverty Index, developed in 2010 by UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), uses 10 indicators across three equally weighted dimensions. NITI Aayog's National MPI uses the same Alkire-Foster method with 12 indicators; a household deprived in a weighted third or more of them is counted as multidimensionally poor.
| Dimension | National MPI indicators |
|---|---|
| Health | Nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, maternal health |
| Education | Years of schooling, school attendance |
| Standard of living | Cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets, bank account |
Unemployment: types
| Type | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Disguised | More people work than needed; marginal productivity is zero | Five family members on a farm that needs three |
| Seasonal | Work is available only in some months | Farm labour idle between sowing and harvest |
| Structural | Mismatch between skills and available jobs, or too little capital to employ everyone | Workers displaced by new technology |
| Frictional | Short gaps while people move between jobs | A graduate searching for a first job |
| Cyclical | Job losses due to a downturn in the business cycle | Layoffs during a recession |
| Educated | Educated people unable to find suitable jobs | Graduates doing unrelated work or waiting for government jobs |
Labour statistics
The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), conducted by the NSO since 2017-18, is the main source of employment data. Labour force = employed + unemployed (those seeking or available for work). Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) = labour force / population; Worker Population Ratio (WPR) = employed / population; Unemployment Rate (UR) = unemployed / labour force. 'Usual status' looks at a person's activity over the last year, while 'current weekly status' looks at the last seven days.
Rural employment guarantee
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 gave every rural household a legal right to 100 days of unskilled wage work a year, with an unemployment allowance if work was not given within 15 days and a requirement that at least one-third of beneficiaries be women. It was replaced from 1 July 2026 by the Viksit Bharat - Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 (VB-G RAM G), which raises the guarantee to 125 days per rural household in a financial year.
Population: Census basics
- The Census is conducted by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs. The first synchronous census was in 1881.
- Census 2011: population about 121 crore; sex ratio 943 (up from 933 in 2001); Kerala highest (1,084), Haryana lowest (879); density 382 per sq km.
- 1921 is the 'Year of the Great Divide': population fell in 1911-21 and has grown in every decade since.
- Census 2027 is India's first digital census and records caste for the general population for the first time since 1931. House listing ran April-September 2026; population enumeration is in February 2027 with reference date 1 March 2027 (1 October 2026 for Ladakh and snow-bound parts of J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand).
- UN estimates show India overtook China as the world's most populous country in 2023.
Demographic transition
| Stage | Birth rate | Death rate | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. High stationary | High | High | Stable, slow growth |
| 2. Early expanding | High | Falling fast | Rapid growth |
| 3. Late expanding | Falling | Low | Growth slows |
| 4. Low stationary | Low | Low | Stable |
Replacement-level total fertility rate is about 2.1 children per woman. NFHS-5 (2019-21) put India's TFR at 2.0, below replacement. The demographic dividend is the growth boost possible when the working-age share is high and the dependency ratio ((children 0-14 + elderly 65+) / working-age 15-64) is low; it pays off only with jobs, skills and health. The National Population Policy 2000 aimed at replacement fertility by 2010 and population stabilisation by 2045.
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