•In 2004–05, about 28% of the rural population was below the poverty line, as compared to about 26% in urban areas.
•In absolute terms, of the total population of 302 million in the country, living below the poverty line in 2004–05, 221 million (73%) were in the rural areas.
•Data from National Sample Surveys (NSS) show that theratio of urban to rural per capita consumption increasedfrom 1.62 in 1993–94 to 1.76 in 1999–2000 and further to 1.91 in 2004–05, which suggests that the urban–rural divide is widening, especially since the NSS probably does not fully capture consumption by the rich, particularly in urban areas.