World Bank report: Covid-19 pushed over 56 million Indians into poverty in 2020
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The COVID-19 pandemic struck the world, disrupting global economic activity, upsetting many lives, and bringing industries to a near stop.
According to the World Bank's most recent report, the pandemic in 2020 may have caused 71 million people worldwide to fall into extreme poverty. And out of these, about 79 percent came from India.
The report titled "Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2022" stated that the pandemic proved to be a major setback to global poverty. It led to a rise in the global extreme poverty rate, which increased from 8.4 percent in 2019 to 9.3 percent in 2020.
By the end of 2020, 71 million people plunged into extreme poverty, resulting in a global total of over 700 million impoverished people.
According to World Bank, the most populous countries were the biggest contributor to the increase in global poverty. It stated that India accounted for 56 million of the estimated 71 million increase in the number of poverty-stricken people.
However, it highlighted that China, despite being the most populated country, did not contribute much to the global poverty increase in 2020. The country experienced a "moderate economic shock in 2020".
On the other hand, the report said India witnessed a "pronounced economic contraction" in 2020.
The report used data from the Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS), conducted by a private data company, the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.
The CPHS data was used to measure poverty, as the Indian government has not released official data on poverty since 2011. "Given the country's size and importance for global and regional poverty estimates, the CPHS data help fill an important gap," the report stated.
The report has projected that poverty reduction will be further hindered in 2022 as the war in Ukraine, the growth slowdown in China, and inflating food and energy prices have taken a toll on global growth.