Poverty in India is not the same in every state. The success rate of reducing poverty varies from state to state causing inter-state disparities in poverty level. Orissa, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are the three poorest states in India with their people living below poverty line being 47, 42 and 37 percent respectively. Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh are the three better-off states in India as far as the poverty is concerned. 

There have been substantial reduction in global poverty, but there are regional disparities described below:

(i) Although there has been substantial reduction in global poverty, it is marked with great regional differences. Poverty declined substantially in China and Southeast Asian countries as a result of rapid economic growth and investments in human resource development. Number of the poor in China has come down from 606 million in 1981 to 212 million in 2001.

(ii) In the countries of South Asia-India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal Bangladesh, Bhutan the decline has not been as rapid.

(iii) In Sub-Saharan Africa, poverty in fact rose from 41 per cent in 1981 to 46 per cent in 2001.

(iv) In Latin America, the ratio of poverty remained the same. Poverty has also resurfaced in some of the former socialist countries like Russia.