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Youngerthandumb t1_j6mcsgv wrote

Reply to comment by Nightshade238 in At 6.1%, India to be fastest-growing economy, projects IMF; China at 5.2% by Gopu_17

Doesn't seem great for the lower classes.

"In India, the share of the national income of the bottom 50% has decreased by around 40% since 1980 (Figure 7). In contrast, the share of the national income of the top 10% has increased by around 80% (Figure 8) and the share of the top 1% has increased by around 180% since 1980 (Figure 9). "

https://www.theindiaforum.in/economy/trends-economic-inequality-india#:~:text=In%20India%2C%20the%20share%20of,since%201980%20(Figure%209).

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Cultural_Flounder107 t1_j6o5sgz wrote

This doesn't mean the bottom 50% got poorer though. In fact, the graph just above what is written in the article says otherwise.

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Youngerthandumb t1_j6oab0j wrote

Which graph are you referring to?

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Cultural_Flounder107 t1_j6paj98 wrote

The chart/ table. English is not my first language. What I mean is if the bottom 50% represent 20% of the economy and, after ten years, they represent 50% less of it and the economy gets three times bigger, they actually got richer. The table shows the bottom 50% got consistently way richer.

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Youngerthandumb t1_j6pbko8 wrote

You're not wrong. Overall, they may be better off on paper, notwithstanding changes in cost of living. However, relative to the upper classes, they are worse off than they would be if the upper classes hadn't gobbled up a disproportionate part of the increased wealth of the nation. Extreme poverty is still a giant problem in India and I think it's unjust that they should see their proportion of wealth decrease (by 40% since the 80s!), even if their total wealth increased somewhat.

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Reselects420 t1_j6mcwws wrote

Do you have figures from developed countries that we could use to compare here?

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Youngerthandumb t1_j6mdx3p wrote

Global inequality is on the rise. The figures are similar everywhere. It's cliche but, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, at least since the 70s.

https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/richest-1-bag-nearly-twice-much-wealth-rest-world-put-together-over-past-two-years

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Reselects420 t1_j6me113 wrote

Ah but this is since the covid pandemic.

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Youngerthandumb t1_j6me4ux wrote

You can look at the Oxfam reports going back in the years. I'm not an expert, but the figures are pretty damning.

Here's 2016

https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/richest-1-will-own-more-all-rest-2016

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Spiritual-Fan5642 t1_j6npzof wrote

So what you really want to say is tgat inequality is a GLOBAL and historical problem.

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Youngerthandumb t1_j6nqasu wrote

I did say that. However, this thread is about India. I'll quote myself, "Global inequality is on the rise. The figures are similar everywhere."

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Spiritual-Fan5642 t1_j6o5wd3 wrote

....and historically speaking not much has really changed besides population and concentration of wealth.

But nah, go right ahead and be pedantic about it with incomplete context.

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Youngerthandumb t1_j6o9hk8 wrote

pedantic because I'm using numbers to make an argument? That's a new one.

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[deleted] t1_j6nml1o wrote

[deleted]

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Youngerthandumb t1_j6npuy7 wrote

How is 50% of the population, which has grown numerically, sharing 40% less wealth a good thing? Great news for the already wealthy I guess.

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[deleted] t1_j6nroin wrote

[deleted]

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Youngerthandumb t1_j6nt984 wrote

And what about the other 900 million people? What are they one small step away from? Abject poverty. They're certainly not improving their lot.

Also: The top 10% are, by definition, relatively wealthy. Stop trying to pretend otherwise.

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Indus-ian t1_j6mj6u1 wrote

Did the national income overall increase?

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