This slowdown was caused by the impact of the drought on the agricultural sector, which grew by 2.3% in that year, down from average annual growth of 6.6% over the previous five years. Due to the growth of the industrial and service sectors since 2000, this marked slowdown in agricultural output did not slow GDP growth by as much as it would have done in the past. However, this does not alter the fact that the drought put the health and livelihoods of millions of rural households at severe risk and required a massive increase in humanitarian relief to avert catastrophe. The proportion of the population below the poverty line fell from 45.5% in 1995/96 to 38.7% in 2004/05, 29.6% in 2010/11 and 23.5% in 2015/16.