India’s climb to 4th largest economy defies per capita  reality

• The IMF predicts India to surpass Japan as the world’s fourth largest economy in 2025.

• Absolute GDP figures do not fully capture wealth distribution, development, or citizens’ living conditions.

• India’s absolute GDP rose from $468.4 billion in 2000 to $4,187 billion in 2025, but its GDP per capita is 12 times lower than Japan’s.

• Poland, a country transitioning from a lower middle-income to a high-income economy, has a GDP per capita nearly nine times higher than India’s.

• Social, educational, health, and democratic indicators are also crucial indicators of a country’s progress.

• As of 2023, nearly 45% of India’s workforce was still employed in agriculture, while Japan and Poland’s share fell below 10%.

• India’s gross enrolment rate in college-level education was 32.7% in 2022, compared to 65% and 75% in Japan and Poland, respectively.

• The average life expectancy in India was 72 years in 2023, compared to 84 years in Japan and 78.5 years in Poland.

• India’s Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) remains at 24.5, while Japan and Poland record less than five such deaths per 1,000 births.

• India’s Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.685 in 2023 indicates’medium development’, while Japan and Poland’s HDIs cross the 0.9 mark, indicating very high human development.