Poverty and living standards in Jammu and Kashmir, India: official figures
4.8% of people in Jammu and Kashmir were multidimensionally poor in 2019-21, down from 12.6% in 2015-16, by NITI Aayog's national index (all-India: 14.96%). That counts people deprived in health, schooling and living standards such as cooking fuel, sanitation, housing and bank accounts; 12th lowest of 36.
How many people in Jammu and Kashmir have left poverty?
Applied to the official population projections, that means about 645,000 people in Jammu and Kashmir were poor in 2021, against about 1.62 million in 2016: roughly 979,000 fewer in five years.
Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copyHow deep is poverty in Jammu and Kashmir?
Poor people in Jammu and Kashmir were on average deprived in 42.1% of the weighted indicators in 2019-21 (the intensity of poverty), compared with 44.2% in 2015-16; the all-India figure was 44.4%.
Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copyHow many people in Jammu and Kashmir are saving for a pension?
48,110 people in Jammu and Kashmir joined the Atal Pension Yojana, the government-backed pension for workers without a formal pension, in 2024-25; 38% of them were women. That is 3.5 new members per 1,000 residents.
Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copyMore figures
- Combining how many are poor and how poor they are, Jammu and Kashmir's multidimensional poverty index was 0.02 in 2019-21 (2015-16: 0.06), on a scale where 0 means nobody is deprived; India: 0.07. Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copy
How Jammu and Kashmir compares with other union territories
People multidimensionally poor (2019-21)
Jammu and Kashmir ranks 25 of 36, highest first.
| Rank | Region | People multidimensionally poor |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | Telangana | 5.88% |
| 23 | Mizoram | 5.30% |
| 24 | Himachal Pradesh | 4.93% |
| 25 | Jammu and Kashmir | 4.80% |
| 26 | Punjab | 4.75% |
| 27 | Ladakh | 3.53% |
| 28 | Chandigarh | 3.52% |
More on Jammu and Kashmir: overview · economy and jobs · health · education and schools · government budget · India
Sources
- Reserve Bank of India: Handbook of Statistics on Indian States 2024-25, Table 180: State-wise Gender-wise Enrolments under Atal Pension Yojana (APY), read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 c9b0eeab4f9d…)
- Reserve Bank of India: Handbook of Statistics on Indian States 2024-25, Table 10: State-wise Poverty Estimates - Multi-dimensional Poverty Index, read 23 October 2026 · saved copy (SHA-256 c0d6483061a8…)
Each saved copy is the file exactly as downloaded, kept so the figures can be checked even if the source changes. Report an error.