Poverty and living standards in Punjab, India: official figures
4.8% of people in Punjab were multidimensionally poor in 2019-21, down from 5.6% 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; 11th lowest of 36.
How many people in Punjab have left poverty?
Applied to the official population projections, that means about 1.44 million people in Punjab were poor in 2021, against about 1.63 million in 2016: roughly 183,000 fewer in five years.
Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copyHow deep is poverty in Punjab?
Poor people in Punjab were on average deprived in 41.2% of the weighted indicators in 2019-21 (the intensity of poverty), compared with 43.7% in 2015-16; the all-India figure was 44.4%.
Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copyHow many people in Punjab are saving for a pension?
348,162 people in Punjab joined the Atal Pension Yojana, the government-backed pension for workers without a formal pension, in 2024-25; 44% of them were women. That is 11.2 new members per 1,000 residents.
Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copyMore figures
- Combining how many are poor and how poor they are, Punjab's multidimensional poverty index was 0.02 in 2019-21 (2015-16: 0.02), on a scale where 0 means nobody is deprived; India: 0.07. Source: Reserve Bank of India · saved copy
How Punjab compares with other states
People multidimensionally poor (2019-21)
Punjab ranks 26 of 36, highest first.
| Rank | Region | People multidimensionally poor |
|---|---|---|
| 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% |
| 29 | Delhi | 3.43% |
More on Punjab: 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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