Poorest 10% In Rich Countries Earn More Than India's Richest 10%: World Bank

The poorest 10 per cent of people in some of the world's richest countries live on more than the richest 10 per cent in India, according to World Bank's 2026 Poverty and Inequality Platform. The comparison shows that the daily income or consumption threshold for the poorest 10 per cent in India is around $3 per person. In the United States, the corresponding figure is $25. In Canada, it is $31, while Germany and Australia record $28 each.

At the other end of the distribution, the richest 10 per cent in India have a daily income or consumption threshold of around $10 per person. The figure rises to $173 in the United States, $129 in Canada and Australia, and $128 in Germany. Notably, as per the Economic Survey of India, an individual earning Rs 80,000 per month is among the top 10 per cent of earners in the country.

According to the comparison, even those ranking among India's wealthiest households have substantially lower living standards than people at the bottom of the income distribution in several advanced economies.

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India Needs To Focus On Raising Incomes Across The Board

Ahona Duttagupta, Program Associate at the Foundation for Economic Development, told NDTV that the comparison points to a deeper problem for India: low incomes across the economy, rather than poverty alone. In India, consuming $10 a day can place a person among the richest 10 per cent. In countries such as Canada, Japan and the United States, the same amount can put a person among the poorest 10 per cent.

Duttagupta's argument is that improving the living standards of poorer Indians is necessary, but it will not be enough to make the country prosperous. Even if poorer Indians catch up with today's better-off households, their living standards could remain far below those in richer economies.

Therefore, India needs to raise incomes and productivity across the population rather than focus only on narrowing the gap between poorer and richer Indians.

Focus On Productivity

Higher productivity allows people and businesses to produce more using the same amount of land, labour and capital. Over time, this can support higher wages, better-paying jobs and rising household incomes.

Duttagupta argued that productivity growth depends on innovation and on whether businesses can experiment with new ideas. Since it is impossible to know in advance which ideas will succeed, entrepreneurs need an environment in which they can test ideas, recover from genuine failures and expand successful businesses. That requires making it easier to start and grow businesses, keeping taxes reasonable and predictable, and reducing unnecessary compliance burdens.

India has already taken steps to ease compliance and decriminalise certain minor offences. However, further reforms will be needed to create conditions for businesses to grow and employ more people. These include regularly reviewing existing regulations, enforcing contracts faster and developing industrial clusters with a regulatory environment that allows Indian businesses to compete with their counterparts in other countries.

Duttagupta's broader point is that lasting prosperity requires more than helping people move up within the existing income distribution. India needs to raise the level of incomes across that distribution.