Poverty and living standards in Madhya Pradesh, India: official figures
20.6% of people in Madhya Pradesh were multidimensionally poor in 2019-21, down from 36.6% 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; 5th highest of 36.
How many people in Madhya Pradesh have left poverty?
Applied to the official population projections, that means about 17.51 million people in Madhya Pradesh were poor in 2021, against about 28.96 million in 2016: roughly 11.45 million fewer in five years.
Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copyHow deep is poverty in Madhya Pradesh?
Poor people in Madhya Pradesh were on average deprived in 43.7% of the weighted indicators in 2019-21 (the intensity of poverty), compared with 47.2% in 2015-16; the all-India figure was 44.4%.
Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copyHow many people in Madhya Pradesh are saving for a pension?
741,136 people in Madhya Pradesh joined the Atal Pension Yojana, the government-backed pension for workers without a formal pension, in 2024-25; 60% of them were women. That is 8.4 new members per 1,000 residents.
Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copyMore figures
- Combining how many are poor and how poor they are, Madhya Pradesh's multidimensional poverty index was 0.09 in 2019-21 (2015-16: 0.17), on a scale where 0 means nobody is deprived; India: 0.07. Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copy
How Madhya Pradesh compares with other states
People multidimensionally poor (2019-21)
Madhya Pradesh ranks 5 of 36, highest first.
| Rank | Region | People multidimensionally poor |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Jharkhand | 28.81% |
| 3 | Meghalaya | 27.79% |
| 4 | Uttar Pradesh | 22.93% |
| 5 | Madhya Pradesh | 20.63% |
| 6 | Assam | 19.35% |
| 7 | Chhattisgarh | 16.37% |
| 8 | Odisha | 15.68% |
More on Madhya Pradesh: 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…)
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