India versus the World

Aug. 3, 2011 - PRLog -- One out of 6 people in the world live in India. But just how big is India? And how can we think about the country and its economy when it's population and GDP varies so vastly from state to state? One way would be to look at the size of each state, in relation to its GDP and population. But what would the numbers really mean? Another way would be to compare each state to a country (with one third's of the world's population, each state really is that significant!).

According to the 2011 census, India's population grew to 1.2 billion in the past decade by 181 million people – that’s the population of Brazil. In 2010, India's GDP was the top 4 in the world, but it's GDP per person was ranked 126 in the world; at US$3,339 it's US$10,500 below the world average. Making Indian's among the poorest in the world.

It's even more shocking when the GDP per person of each state in India is compared to another country in the world. The Indian equivalents show up as the poorest countries in the world. Madhy Pradesh, has the same GDP per capita as Benin of about US$1,500 – making it among the poorest countries in the world. See how GDP is distributed per person across India's states and their global equivalents;

Not only is wealth unevenly distributed geographically, so are scarce resources. Combine that with high population growth and you get serious social issues. One of them is unemployment and the lack of employment opportunities. While India has experienced massive industrial growth, there’s been virtually no increase in the demand for labor with increased machinery in the agricultural sectors. For most of the population, this signals a shrinking job market.

India’s other concern when it comes to its rapidly growing population is that it’s population growth might outstrip increases in food output. For many Indians, life is a big enough struggle just to put together the bare essentials for survival, but shortages of resources makes things even worse, especially for the poor and underprivileged.

While India's economy as a whole was resilient throughout the global financial crisis, the total figures simply don't paint the real story. Poverty, famine and unemployment remain massive social and economic issues for the emerging economy. People are starting to wonder; will these problems derail India's economic growth story?

Some states with the lowest GDP per capita have decent GDP comparisons, with richer countries starting to show up on the map. Countries like Singapore, Qatar and Angola. Due to India's large population, there's more hands to distribute wealth to - but is wealth in India evenly distributed?

Read more at: http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-...

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