The economic crisis driven by the novel coronavirus pandemic is having a major impact on global living standards, pushing millions of people out of the middle class or into poverty.
India and China, the world’s third largest and largest economies, respectively, exert significant influence on these trends.
But the pandemic’s economic impact on India and China has been different.
The numbers
The numbers
The numbers
The numbers
According to Pew research, the Indian middle class shrunk by a record 32 million due to Covid-19 pandemic.
(The 32 million in India account for around 60 per cent of the global retreat in the middle-income tier (people with incomes of $10.01-$20 a day)).
Low-income tier, people with an income of $2 or less a day, rose by 75 million.
The impact of this has been a spike in participation in India’s rural employment programme, MGNREGA, originally intended to combat poverty in agricultural areas – as many lost jobs in urban and semi-urban areas.
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