Economic growth and population transition in China and India 1990–2018

Abstract

This paper analyses the trend in economic growth and population transition in China and India during 1990–2018 through a comparative perspective. The analysis follows a decomposition framework which argues that economic growth has a pure demographic component and a pure economic component and it is the latter which actually contributes to improving the standard of living. The analysis reveals that most of the economic growth in China during 1990–2018 has contributed to improving the standard of living but a substantial proportion of economic growth in India has been the result of the demographic factors that contributed little to improve the quality of life of the people. China needs to explore possibilities of productive utilisation of the old people to sustain economic growth whereas India requires reinvigorating the economic system and accelerating population transition to improve the quality of life of its people. The paper concludes that in the context of human well-being, economic growth in India has been less spectacular than that in China.