UPSC » UPSC CSE Study Materials » Economy » Demographic Indicators and Sectoral Comparison

Demographic Indicators and Sectoral Comparison

Comparison of Demographic Indicators: Gross Domestic Product and Sectoral Comparison.

Some of the demographic indicators of India, China and Pakistan are summarized herein below:

Comparison of Demographic Indicators:

  • The population of Pakistan is quite small as compared to the population of China or India. It’s roughly about one-tenth of the latter two
  • Though China is the larger nation and geographically occupies the most areas among the three nations, its density is lower than the other nation
  • Population growth was the highest in Pakistan, followed by India and China
  • One child norm introduced in China in the late 1970s is the major reason for low population growth, after a few decades there would be more elderly as compared to children
  • However, it has also had a negative impact on the population composition in the nation
  • In all the three countries, there are biases among women as the sex ratio is very low
  • The fertility rate of China is low as compared to Pakistan whose fertility rate is quite high
  • Urbanisation is high in China as compared to India having 34 % of its people living in urban areas

 

 

Gross Domestic Product and Sectoral Comparison:

  •  According to the data, China has the second-largest GDP (PPP) of $22.5 trillion in the world, whereas, India’s GDP (PPP) is $9.03 trillion and Pakistan’s GDP is $ 0.94 trillion
  •  In the 1980s China was able to maintain near 2 digit growth
  • In 2015–17, there has been a decline in Pakistan and China’s growth rates, whereas India met with a moderate increase in growth rates
  • In Pakistan, political instability over a long period comes because of the reform process which is understood as the reason behind the declining growth rate in Pakistan

Primary Sector:

  • In China, only about 10 % of its total land area is cultivable
  • More than 80% of the Chinese depended upon agriculture for livelihood till the 1980s
  • Since the Chinese government has encouraged people to pursue handicrafts, commerce and transport
  • Today, In China 26% of the workforce is dependent upon Agriculture and its contribution to GVA is 7%
  • We know that in both India and Pakistan, the contribution of agriculture to GVA were 16 and 24%, respectively; the proportion of workforce dependent upon it is also 43 and 41% respectively. 
  • Over the most recent fifty years, the development of the farming area, which utilizes the biggest extent of the labour force in every one of the three nations, has declined

Industrial Sector:

  • In India, China and Pakistan the contribution of Industry to GVA and the proportion of workforce engaged in it is 30, 19 and 41 per cent respectively (Contribution to GVA); 25, 24, 28 per cent respectively (Workforce engaged)
  • China has maintained a near double-digit growth rate in the 1980s in the industrial sector but began showing a reduction in the recent few years, whereas, for India and Pakistan growth rate has declined

Service Sector:

  • In all the three countries, the service sector contributes the highest share of GVA
  • Pakistan was faster in shifting its workforce to the service sector as compared to India and China
  • The proportion of workforce engaged in the service sector, in India, China and Pakistan have reached the level of 32, 46, and 35% respectively
  • In the service sector, China was able to maintain its rate of growth during 1980–1990, while there was a positive and increasing growth of India’s service sector output

Thus, the manufacturing and service sectors contributed to the growth of China and India. During this period, Pakistan has shown a decline in all three sectors

Conclusion:

The growth of the agriculture sector in all the three countries has declined, although it employs the largest proportion of the workforce. China has maintained a double-digit growth rate in the industrial sector. China was able to maintain its rate of growth during the 1980-90s, and India was also thriving for positive and increasing growth in the service sector. China has really made a massive contribution in the manufacturing and service sectors and India shows a positive growth in the service sector. But, Pakistan was not able to pace up in either of the three sectors.