Context: According to the National Family Health Survey(NFHS) Wealth Index, a vast chunk of India’s poor in terms of ownership of consumer goods and household assets resides in a handful of eastern and northeastern states.
About the report

• The National Family Health Survey report is a reality check based on the ownership of common household assets through a quintile approach.
• The report has used a “wealth index", a measure of living standards based on households’ ownership of items to housing features.
• The population is divided into five equally-sized groups based on the index.
• The top 20% form the richest, and the bottom 20% the poorest quintile.

Key findings of the report
State-wise distribution of Wealth.

• 74% of urban Indians belong to the two richest quintiles.
• Only one in four rural Indians fall in these groups.
• 54% of rural Indians belong to the poorest two wealth quintiles and 10.3% of the urban population.
• In 12 states, over 50% of the population falls in the poorest two quintiles.

District wise distribution of Wealth

• Districts where the capital cities are located come across as islands of relatively better living standards.
• Poverty Indicator is used to assess each state’s wealth distribution relative to India’s.
• Mahe district of Puducherry has the smallest share of the poor (0.1%).
• Supaul district of Bihar has the highest (91.9%).
• Kerala has less than 10% poor population.

Religion wise distribution of wealth

• Only 1.6% of Sikhs fall in the lowest wealth quintile, rest 59% fall among highest quintile.
• Christians- 26%
• Hindus and Muslims- 20%

Education Link

• There is a strong correlation between education and wealth status.
• The wealth status was better where the head of the household had completed more years of schooling.
• 64% people belonged to the poorest two quintiles and just 5% were in the top quintile.
• Only one in 10 households where the head had completed 12 or more years of schooling was in the bottom 40%.
• Half the households where the head had not moved beyond primary education were poor.

BPL (Below Poverty Line) Coverage

• Almost 45% households have BPL cards, which are given to families adjudged to be below the poverty line.
• High Population of Tripura, Assam, West Bengal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh lack BPL cards.
• At least every second person falls in the poor category.