Poverty in the country declined by 7.3 per cent from 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 29.8 per cent in 2009-10. According to the Planning Commission estimates released yesterday, the decline in rural areas has been at a faster pace than in urban cities during 2004-05 and 2009-10.

The sharp decline in poverty of over 10 percentage points was witnessed in Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttarakhand. However, poverty has increased in North-eastern states of Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland