India Enters Top 5 Countries with the Lowest Income Inequality — World Bank

According to a recent World Bank report, India has become the fourth-largest country in the world in terms of income distribution. India's Gini index—a measure of income inequality where 0 represents perfect equality and 100 signifies maximum inequality—stands at 25.5. This places India just behind the Slovak Republic (24.1), Slovenia (24.3), and Belarus (24.4), and ahead of countries like China (35.7), the United States (41.8), and all G7 and G20 nations. This ranking reflects a significant reduction in inequality and a sharp decline in extreme poverty: the percentage of Indians living on less than $2.15 a day dropped from 16.2% in 2011-12 to 2.3% in 2022-23. During the same period, 171 million Indians were lifted out of extreme poverty. Key factors contributing to this progress include: the government’s targeted social welfare schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (financial inclusion), Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), and Ayushman Bharat (health insurance); the Aadhaar digital identification system, which streamlined subsidy and service delivery to over 142 crore people; and consistent economic growth coupled with focused poverty alleviation efforts. India is currently classified in the "moderately low" inequality category and is close to entering the "low inequality" group, indicating a fairer income distribution compared to most other major countries.