New Delhi: Official data has shown that more people had moved above the poverty line by 2004-05 compared with the earlier estimates of 1999-2000.

As per the provisional data of the 61st round of large sample survey on household consumer expenditure, the poverty ratio at the national level was about 22 per cent in 2004-05, down from the roughly comparable data for 1999-2000 which showed a poverty level of 26.1 per cent for that year.

Estimates of 22 per cent of the population living below the poverty line are based on the `Mixed Recall Period' under which consumer expenditure data for five non-food items - clothing, footwear, durable goods, education and institutional medical expenses - are collected from a 365-day recall period and the consumption data for the remaining items are collected from a 30-day recall period.

The survey on consumer expenditure is undertaken approximately every five years by an official body, the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).