The Poverty Line is an imaginary line used to measure poverty. It defines the minimum level of income or consumption required to meet basic life necessities. It is a key topic in Class 9 Economics.
According to the World Bank's international poverty line, anyone living on less than $2.15 a day (revised from $1.90) is considered to be living in extreme poverty.
In India, the poverty line is primarily determined based on consumption expenditure rather than income. It considers two main factors:
Nutritional (Calorie) Requirement:
Monetary Value (Expenditure): The cost of buying the food to meet these calories, plus the minimum cost of clothing, footwear, fuel, light, education, and medical requirements, determines the monetary poverty line.
Poverty line estimations are made by the NITI Aayog (earlier the Planning Commission) based on survey data collected by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).
People living in rural areas generally engage in more hard physical labour (like agriculture) compared to urban residents, so they require more energy (calories).
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