Pandemic may have doubled poverty in India, says Pew study
Context: According to an analysis by the Pew Research Center, India’s middle class may have shrunk by a third due to 2020’s pandemic-driven recession, while the number of poor people — earning less than ₹150 per day — more than doubled.
Details:
- The report uses World Bank projections of economic growth to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on Indian incomes.
- The lockdown triggered by the pandemic resulted in shut businesses, lost jobs and falling incomes, plunging the Indian economy into a deep recession.
- The middle class in India is estimated to have shrunk by 3.2 crore in 2020 as a consequence of the downturn, compared with the number it may have reached absent the pandemic.
- The number of people who are poor in India (with incomes of $2 or less a day) is estimated to have increased by 7.5 crore because of the COVID-19 recession.
- This accounts for nearly 60% of the global increase in poverty.
- It also noted the record spike in MGNREGA participants as proof that the poor were struggling to find work.
Comparison with china:
- China’s middle class is likely to see a miniscule dip of just one crore, while the number of poor people may have gone up by 10 lakh.
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