Public Disclosure Authorized

West Bengal
Poverty, Growth & Inequality
West Bengal is India’s 4th most populous state in India with 91 million people, a fifth of who are
poor. Although poverty reduction in the state was faster after 2005, pockets of high poverty still
persist within the state. What’s more, after 2005, the state’s economic growth, which is driven
mainly by services, has been weak. So much so that West Bengal grew at an even slower pace than
Public Disclosure Authorized

the country’s other low income states. Furthermore, consumption inequality, which increased
marginally after 2005, is close to the national average.

Poverty in West Bengal is close to the national average

Population below poverty line, 2012 (%)
50

40
40
37 37
35 34
33
Public Disclosure Authorized

32 32
30 29

22 22
21 20
20 19
17 17
15 15
12 12
11 11 11 10
10 9 9 8 8 8
5

0
CG JH MN AR BH OD AS MP UP AI MZ KA WB NL MH GJ TR RJ MG TN UK HR JK DL AP SK PJ KL HP GA

Low Income States are highlighted in orange, AI is All India.

Public Disclosure Authorized

Some districts in West Bengal have very high poverty

District level poverty, 2012

Patna

Population below the poverty line,

2012 (%)

0.6-5.2
4-9
5.3-13.2
9-20
13.3-17.2
20-26
N 17.3-22.6
26-31
22.7-62.8
31-38

1 June 20, 2017

West Bengal
Poverty, Growth & Inequality

Like many other states, poverty reduction in West Bengal was faster after 2005
Population below poverty line, (%)
70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
MN JH BH OD AR AS CG KA MH UP AI TN AP MP WB RJ GJ MG HR HP UK TR SK KL JK PJ GA NL DL MZ

● 1994 ● 2005 ● 2012

Low Income States are highlighted in orange, AI is All India.

There was faster poverty reduction in both rural and urban areas of West Bengal after 2005
Population below poverty line, (%)
60

50

42
Rural
40 Total 38
40

Urban 35
30
31
23

20 24
20

15
10

0
1994 2005 2012

2 June 20, 2017

West Bengal
Poverty, Growth & Inequality
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

-1 AS High poverty,
Since 2005, West Bengal’s growth has lagged behinddeclining
most other
slowly states in India, including the
Annual decline in poverty rate, 2005 - 2012 (%)

Low Income States -3

JH CG

12 UP
-5 UK

11 MP
KA BH
(%) (%)

-7
10 Improving WB Leading All India
OD
- 2012
2005- 2012

-9 GJ
9 Data for 19 large states and All India.
TN
HR
Low Income States are highlighted in orange.
rate, 2005

8 -11 AP MH GJ
RJ MH
growthrate,

KL KL HR
7 PJ HP Interpreting the graph
-13
BH RJ TN
OD KA
growth

6 MP CGHP

Improvement from 2005 to 2012

UK PJ
Improving Leading
-15 Low poverty,
WB Low income, High income,
Annual

5 UP
declining fast AP
high growth high growth
Annual

JH
4 -17
Lagging Weakening
AS
Lagging Weakening
3 Low income, High income,
low growth low growth

2
Standard of living, 2005
0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000 45,000

RealReal
GSDPGSDP per capita,
per capita, (2005
(2005 Rupees) Rupees)
All India

Services contribute the most to West Bengal’s growth

Annual growth rate, (%) Components of GSDP growth rate, (%)
15 15 10 10

8 8 4.5
5.5 5.0 4.7
10 10
6 6
5.0 5.0
5.8
5.0
4 4
5 5 3.9
1.9
1.5
2 2 1.8
0.7 1.4 1.4 1.2
0 0 0.5 0.5 0.1
0 0
-0.4 -0.4 -0.4
20052006
2005 20062007
20072008
20082009
20092010
2010201120112012
2012
-1.5 -0.5

■ West Bengal GSDP ■ All India GDP -2 -2

2005 2006
2005 2006 2007
20072008
20082009
20092010
2010 20112011 2012
2012

■ Services ■ Industry ■ Agriculture

3 June 20, 2017

West Bengal
Poverty, Growth & Inequality

The pace of poverty reduction in West Bengal after 2005 was similar to the national average
Poverty rate, 2005
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

-1 AS High poverty,
(%)(%)

declining slowly
2012

-3
2005 --2012

JH CG

UP
rate,2005

-5
MP
rate,

KA BH
-7
WB All India
in poverty

OD
in poverty

-9 GJ Data for 19 large states and All India.

Low Income States are highlighted in orange.
HR
decline

-11 MH
RJ
decline

KL
Annual

PJ
-13 TN

HP
Annual

UK
-15 Low poverty,
declining fast AP

-17

A substantial share of India’s poor live in West Bengal

bubble size: number of poor (millions)
25

UP
(%) (%)

20
20122012
poor,

BH Data for 19 large states and All India.

poor,

15 Low Income States are highlighted in yellow.

India’s
in India’s

Interpreting the graph

What % of India’s poor lives in this state?
share in

10 MP
Stateshare

MH Share of poor > share io

n
at
of population pul
po
OD of
State

KA WB e
JH ar
5 sh
CG RJ
or
=
po
AS GJ AP of
TN ar
e Share of poor < share
HR Sh of population
KL
UK PJ
0
HP What % of India’s population lives in this state?
0 5 10 15 20 25

State share
State sharein
inIndia’s population,
India’s population, 20122012
(%) (%)

4 June 20, 2017

West Bengal
Poverty, Growth & Inequality

Since 2005, consumption inequality has increased marginally in West Bengal

Gini coefficient
0.4 0.39
0.37

0.33
0.32
0.31
0.3
0.27
0.26
0.24 0.24

0.2

0.1

0.0
Total Rural Urban

■ 1994 ■ 2005 ■ 2012

Consumption inequality in West Bengal is close to the national average

Gini coefficient, 2012
0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1
KL DL KA MH AR TN AI HR WB MP CG UP PJ HP GA UK AP GJ MZ OD JK JH RJ AS TR NL BH SK MG MN

Low Income States are highlighted in orange, AI is All India.

5 June 20, 2017