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 today, the decline in rural areas has been at a faster pace than in urban cities during 2004-05 and 2009-10. The total number of poor in the country has been estimated at 34.47 crore in 2009-10, as against 40.72 crore in 2004-05.

The sharp decline in poverty of over 10 percentage points was witnessed in Himchal 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. Some of the bigger states, such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh have shown only marginal decline in poverty ratio, particularly in rural areas.