Despite years of economic growth, more Indians say they are “suffering”

Almost a third of all Indians say they are "suffering" despite nearly two decades of rapid economic growth, according to a new study conducted by Gallup Research.

Around 31 percent of Indians, or about 240 million adults, said their lives were bad enough that they were "suffering" in 2012, compared with only 24 percent in 2011, India's Hindu Business Line newspaper reported.

Conducted in the first quarter of 2012, the survey polled 5,000 people, a number meant to be indicative of 90 percent of India's adult population, the paper said.

Gallup classifies respondents as “thriving”, “struggling” or “suffering” according to how they rate their current and future lives on a scale of 0 to 10, the paper said. Gallup considers people to be suffering if they rate their current lives and their lives in five years a 4 or lower.

According to the report, the poorest and least educated Indians are the most likely to be suffering, but suffering has increased among Indians across all income and education levels. Suffering has risen among the poorest 40 percent of India's population since 2008, reaching 38 per cent in early 2012, the paper said.