Hyderabad: Niti Ayog’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) has revealed that 13.74 percent of the population in Telangana is living in poverty. The MPI puts Telangana at 19th position among 28 states and 8 Union territories of the country.
The MPI ranks states and UTs based on 12 different dimensions including nutrition, housing, drinking water, electricity, and sanitation. The data is based on the National Family Health Survey 4, 2014-15, and the National Family Health Survey 5, 2019-20.
While only 4.2 percent population of the city of Hyderabad lives in poverty, the district of Adilabad has the largest population living in poverty at 27.4 percent, followed by Mahbubnagar (26.11 percent), Nizamabad (21.44 percent), Medak (17.9 percent), and Nalgonda (15.3 percent).
As per the index, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh have emerged as the poorest states in India. 51.91 per cent population of Bihar is poor, followed 42.16 per cent in Jharkhand, 37.79 per cent in Uttar Pradesh. While Madhya Pradesh (36.65 per cent) has been placed fourth in the index, Meghalaya (32.67 per cent) is at the fifth spot.
Kerala (0.71 percent), Goa (3.76 percent), Sikkim (3.82 percent), Tamil Nadu (4.89 percent), and Punjab (5.59 per cent) have registered the lowest poverty across India and are at the bottom of the index.