Friday, April 01, 2011

That Just Makes Another Fact More Depressing For India

India's population have increased to 1.21 billion, up by 180 million or 17.6% compared to a decade earlier. Though this means that the potential for economic growth is better, this also means that India is trailing China in per capita growth (the relevant indicator in terms of reducing poverty) even more than the total growth numbers suggest.

It also makes the fact that India's GDP was just $1.52 trillion in the fiscal year 2009/10 even more depressing, as this means that India's 1.21 billion people produce less at current exchange rates than the 37 million in California (California is 13% of the U.S. $14.8 trillion economy, or $1.92 trillion). It also means that India despite now having almost as large population as China, it's economy is only slightly more than a fourth of China's $6 trillion economy.