in the country. The life expectancy at birth for males is 65.2 years and for females it is 67.6 years. However, it has a high level of poverty, especially in rural areas. In 2004–2005, the poverty line was set at 351.86/month for rural areas and 547.42/month for urban areas. Poverty in the state dropped from 51.7 per cent in 1983 to 21.1 per cent in 2001. For the period 2004–2005, the Trend in Incidence of Poverty in the state was 22.5 per cent compared with the national figure of 27.5 per cent. The World Bank is currently assisting the state in reducing poverty, high drop-out and low completion of secondary schools continue to hinder the quality of training in the population. Other problems include class, gender, inter-district, and urban-rural disparities. Based on URP – Consumption for the period 2004–2005, the percentage of the state's population below the poverty line was 27.5 per cent. The Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative ranks Tamil Nadu to have a Multidimensional Poverty Index of 0.141, which is in the level of Ghana among the developing countries. Corruption is a major problem in the state with Transparency International ranking it the second most corrupt among the states of India. Religion According to the 2011 census, Hinduism is followed by the majority of the population of Tamil Nadu, around 88 percent. Christians are the largest religious minority in the state, at around 6.12 percent of the population, followed by Islam at 5.86 percent. Language Tamil is the sole official language of Tamil Nadu, while English has been declared as the additional official language by the Government of Tamil Nadu. When India adopted national standards, Tamil language was the first to be recognised as a classical language of India. As of 2011 census report, Tamil is spoken as the first language by 88.35 percent of the state's population, followed by Telugu (5.87%), Kannada (1.58%), Urdu (1.75%), Malayalam (1%) and other languages (1.53%). LGBT rights The Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Tamil Nadu are among the most progressive in India. Chennai Rainbow Pride has been held in the Capital city of Chennai annually since 2009. Tamil Nadu is also the first Indian state to ban conversion therapy, following the Madras High Court. Tamil Nadu was the first Indian state to introduce a transgender welfare policy, wherein transgender people can avail free sex reassignment surgery in