Chennai: Kottayam in Kerala has zero poverty in the country while Kerala has the lowest poverty rate in India, said a report by NITI Aayog. In a Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index released by the agency, NITI Aayog revealed the feat of the state. The report also revealed the amount of poverty in other southern cities including Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Kottayam registered a zero in poverty index while Wayanad registered the highest in Kerala with a poverty rate of 3.48%, reports Manorama. In Kerala, several districts recorded lesser than 1% of the poverty rate. The districts with lowest poverty include Ernakulam (0.10%), Kozhikode (0.26%), Thrissur (0.33%), Kannur (0.44%), Palakkad (0.62%).
Among the other southern states, in Tamil Nadu, Chennai recorded the least poverty index with 0.98% of the population being above the poverty line and living a decent city life while Pudukottai recorded the highest poverty level with 11.7%.
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In Telangana, Hyderabad registered the lowest of 4.27% poverty while the highest was reported in Adilabad with 27.43% of people in poverty.
In Karnataka, Bengaluru recorded the highest of 2.31% poverty while Yadgur recorded the highest in the poverty index with 41.67% of people still living in underprivileged conditions.
In Andhra Pradesh, Guntur recorded the lowest 8.31% poverty while Kurnool recorded the highest with 20.49% poverty.
In the overall index, Kerala recorded the least 0.71% of poverty followed by Goa (3.76%), Sikkim (3.82%) and Tamil Nadu (4.89%). In the states reporting the highest poverty, Bihar stood first with 51.91% poverty followed by Jharkhand (42.16%), Uttar Pradesh (37.79%) and Madhya Pradesh (36.65%).
However, this poverty index report is largely based on parameters such as nutrition child & adolescent mortality, antenatal care, years of schooling, school attendance, cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets and bank account.