GDP growth in China and India

India’s economic growth struggles to create employment. Given its demographic structure, every year India needs to create 10 to 12 million new jobs for young people joining the labour force. Labour force participation in 2022 was 55.4 %, meaning slightly more than half the working age population (15 to 64 years old) were working. The female participation rate was just 30 % and the male rate was 79 %. The rate dropped to 29 % for 15-24 year-olds – and to just 13.1 % for females, compared to 43 % for males. Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan noted the contradiction between India’s high overall economic performance and low economic participation rate. On India’s prospects of reaching the current per capita income of China (in 2022, this was US$12 720 for China and US$2 410 for India) by 2047 if it maintained the current growth rate, he said: ‘We absolutely need … improvement if we want to grow rich before we grow old’.