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 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 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. 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, most other Since 2005, West Bengal’s growth has lagged behinddeclining 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 - 2012 -9 GJ 9 Data for 19 large states and All India. TN Low Income States are highlighted in orange. 2005 HR rate, 2005 8 -11 AP MH GJ RJ MH rate, KL KL HR 7 PJ HP Interpreting the graph -13 BH RJ TN growth 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 Real Real GSDP GSDP 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 2005 2005 2006 2006 2007 2007 2008 2008 2009 2009 2010 2010 2011 2011 2012 2012 -1.5 -0.5 ■ West Bengal GSDP ■ All India GDP -2 -2 2005 2006 2005 2006 2007 20082009 20072008 20092010 2011 2012 2010 2011 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 2012 2012 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 share MH Share of poor > share io n at of population pul po State 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 in share inIndia’s population, India’s population, 2012 (%) (%) 2012 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