India has reduced its poverty rate drastically from 55% to 28% in ten years. 271 million people moved out of poverty between 2005/6 and 2015/16, according to the UN’s latest Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report. While progress has been remarkable, the country still has the largest number of people i.e 364 million living in multidimensional poverty in the world.

If one considers the 364 million people who are MPI poor in 2015/16, 156 million (34.5%) are children. In fact, of all the poor people in India, just over one in four—27.1%—has not yet celebrated their tenth birthday. However, the multidimensional poverty among children under 10 has dropped the fastest.

In 2005/6 there were 292 million poor children in India, so the latest figures represent a 47% decrease or a 136 million fewer children growing up in multidimensional poverty. When considering the durable and lifetime consequences of childhood deprivation, particularly in nutrition and schooling, this is a tremendously good sign for India’s future, the report noted.