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Patna. Bihar now seems to be changing its old image with the new development figures. According to the Planning and Development Department of the state government, Bihar has made significant progress in the fields of poverty reduction, human development, health, education and economic status in the last two decades. The data shows that the state has performed better than the national average in many important indices.

Big achievement of Bihar in reducing poverty

According to NITI Aayog’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), Bihar has made a place among the best performing states in the country in terms of poverty reduction. In the year 2015-16, the multidimensional poverty rate of Bihar was 51.89 percent, which reduced to 33.76 percent by 2019-21.

That means, in about four years, a decrease of 18.13 percentage points was recorded in the poverty rate. The average reduction in poverty across the country during the same period was about 9.89 percentage points. This figure shows that the pace of poverty reduction in Bihar was much higher than the national average.

There was a big change in human development also.

Bihar has also registered improvement in Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI score of the state was 0.485 in 2006, which increased to 0.614 in 2023. During this period there was an increase of about 27 percent, while at the national level the increase was about 23 percent. Health facilities, expansion of education and improvement in living standards are considered to be the main reasons for this change.

Per capita income increased 13 times in 20 years

There has also been a big change in the economic situation of Bihar. The per capita income of the state was Rs 5,780 in the year 2004, which will increase to Rs 76,490 in 2024-25. That means, in about 20 years, there has been an increase of about 13 times in per capita income. This indicates increasing activities in the state’s economy.

Huge increase in expenditure on development schemes

The state government has increased investment in infrastructure and social sectors. Per capita development expenditure in the year 2005-06 was Rs 1,463, which increased to Rs 13,279 in 2024-25. During this period, the expenditure on health sector has increased by about 14.8 times and the expenditure on education sector has increased by about 13.2 times.