Riding high on its 9.4 per cent economy, India received its first blow from a study carried out by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Asian Development Bank study says the country is lagging in living standards
NEW DELHI: Riding high on its 9.4 per cent economy, India received its first blow from a study carried out by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
India and China, the two economic powerhouses on a rapid growth path, are lagging in terms of living standards and economic well-being of their populations, the study says. Their people neither earn nor spend enough and India, in particular, will take decades to reach the level of better off countries like Brunei, it said.
According to the ‘International Comparison Program (ICP) in Asia and the Pacific: Purchasing Power Parity Preliminary Report’ released on Tuesday, China and India lead in terms of total size of economy, accounting for 64 per cent (China -45, India-19) of the total real gross domestic product (GDP) of the 23 countries participating in the study.
However, a completely different picture emerges once the size of population of these countries is taken into account. In terms of share of every citizen in GDP (per capita), India sinks to 18th and China to the 10th rank.
Additionally, in terms of consumption of each household, China ranks 15th and India, 17th. This is a comparison calculated on the basis of “actual final consumption of households” (AFCH) that is a combination of what every household purchases and what it is provided for individual use by the government (principally, education and health). The economic well-being of the population is obtained by comparing household consumption expenditure per capita.
The five economies that top the list are Hong Kong, (HK$125,303 per capita); Taipei, (HK$109,108); Singapore (HK$99,706), Brunei Darussalam (HK$81,744), and Macao, (HK$67,639).
As for the two giant economies, a person living in China spends an average of only HK$11,502 per year, while an Indian consumes an average of HK$9,346 per year.
Taking price level index into account, Fiji Islands and Hong Kong are the two costliest places to live in. They are followed by Macao, Singapore, and Taipei. China ranks eighth, and India is ranked 16th. The cheapest places are Lao PDR, Viet Nam, Islamic Republic of Iran, Cambodia, and Nepal.
Estimates of how long it will take some countries to reach certain levels of per capita real GDP also appeared gloomy for India.
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