This report presents initial findings from the third round of data collection by Young Lives in the Indian State of Andhra Pradesh, carried out from late 2009 to early 2010 with two age cohorts of children. It gives a broad outline of some of the key indicators of childhood poverty and changes that have taken place in the children’s lives between the earlier survey rounds in 2002 and 2006 and this third round. Data are mainly presented for the entire age group cohort, in most cases separated into gender, wealth groups, rural/urban location, caste and ethnicity. In particular, we are able to make comparisons between the older children at age 8 in 2002 (in Round 1), and the Younger Cohort at age 8 in 2009 (Round 3) – to highlight changes that have happened in the study communities over that time.

India is home to 1.2 billion people of whom 40 per cent are children. India today is witnessing an economic boom and if current trends continue, it is on course to become one of the world’s most powerful economies. Yet this vast country is characterised by stark disparities between regions and social groups related to wealth and consumption, access to welfare programmes and education, and mobility out of poverty. Given the scale of poverty (75 per cent of the population lives on less than $2 per day) and that a quarter of all child deaths globally occur in India, tackling child poverty has global significance. The Young Lives study in India is being carried out in Andhra Pradesh, the fifth largest state in India, with a total population of 84.66 million (Census 2011).