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Remittances - India received an estimated $120bn in 2023 - fuel aspirations for a better life, driven not by poverty but "relative deprivation", as families seek to match the success of others abroad, the study says.

Rather, they are trying to escape what some call "relative deprivation".

But because it appeared everyone on television and in magazines was doing so well, relative deprivation — feeling the need to “keep up with the Joneses” — replaced common sense.

If perceptions of social status influence levels of stress and anxiety, then cultural factors also play a critical role: For example, by amplifying a sense of relative deprivation through media images of "the good life" and celebrity lifestyles that are increasingly beyond the reach of most of us; or moderating that sense by providing alternative cultural models, such as downshifting and simple living, that undermine conventional social comparisons.

Each IMD is the nation's official measure of relative deprivation, or poverty, and is weighted heavily towards income, employment, education, and health.