The latest global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) was released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the University of Oxford. Launched in 2010, the index spans 108 countries and assesses poverty through 10 indicators spread across health, education and living standards. In 2024, over 238 million Indians were multidimensionally poor, and almost one-fifth of its population was vulnerable to it. The incidence of poverty in India fell to 16.4% in 2019–21 from 55.1% in 2005–06; living standards made up close to 40% of the country's multidimensional poverty. Worldwide, 1.2 billion people faced multidimensional poverty in 2025; half of them were children and more than four-fifths were rural residents.