India on track to meet SDG target as over 400 million exit poverty

Over 400 million Indians escaped poverty between 2005-06 and 2019-2021, according to the Economic Survey 2022-23, tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.

The survey highlighted the key findings of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2022 report released in October 2022, covering 111 developing countries.

“Demonstrating the on-track progress to attain Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of halving poverty by 2030, more than 41 crore (410 mn) people exited poverty between 2005-06 and 2019-21 according to the UN Multi-dimensional Poverty Index,” said the survey.

Poverty includes lack access to healthcare, sanitation, clean drinking water or electricity, and quality of education.

The UN report stated that about 16.4% of the population in India (228.9 million people in 2020) were multidimensionally poor, while another 18.7% have been classified as vulnerable to multidimensional poverty (260.9 million people in 2020).

Elaborating the findings of the UN report, the survey said, “In India, 41.5 crore people exited poverty between 2005-06 and 2019-21, demonstrating that the SDG target... of reducing at least by half the proportion of men, women, and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions by 2030 is possible to achieve,” it said.

The survey also talked about the government’s aims to strengthen India’s health infrastructure and prepare to address present and future needs. It said the government is focusing on primary healthcare expenditure which has increased from 51.1% in FY14 to 55.2% in FY19 to ensure affordable health services at the grassroots level.

The survey also lauded the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Scheme (AB PM-JAY) which offers free treatment to nearly 200 million beneficiaries across more than 26,055 hospitals.

Over 154,000 health and wellness centres have been operationalized across the country under Ayushman Bharat.

The survey stated that the share of government health expenditure in total health spending has increased from 28.6% in FY14 to 40.6% in FY19.

“The Economic Survey notes that this is a significant increase which shows that the citizens are better equipped and better provided in terms of healthcare at their doorstep making it more accessible. Due to several such steps, Out of-Pocket Expenditure (OOPE) as a percentage of total health expenditure has declined substantially from 64.2% in FY14 to 48.2% in FY19,” it said.

“The social security expenditure on health, which includes the social health insurance programme, government-financed health insurance schemes, and medical reimbursements made to government employees, has increased from 6% in FY14 to 9.6% in FY19,” stated the government report.