This study aims to determine the extent of poverty in Delhi slums through consumption patterns, employment and educational status of the slum population. The study brings out significant social and economic aspects of the people living in Delhi’s slums, including low level of education of the migrants, gender disparity in economic status, and significant number of households below the poverty line. The results emphasise the need for a positive employment generation policy among urban slum dwellers. There is also a need to generate employment and provide facilities at the origin of migration in order to check the influx into Delhi.