The resurgence of ‘Chindia’ — a term coined by Indian politician Jairam Ramesh about 10 years ago — is the big economic story of our time. In 1820 China and India together accounted for almost 50% of world output. In 1950 that figure was less than 10%. Today it is about 20%, and by 2025 it is projected to be almost 35%.
The recovery of China and India in recent decades followed the implementation of comprehensive economic reform programmes, starting in China (with the ‘open door’ policy) in 1978 and in India in 1991. In consequence, from 1990 to 2008, real income per head — a measure of the physical quantity of production — grew by 4.7% per year on average in India, and by 9% in China. To put these numbers into context, the comparable figure for the UK over the same period was 2.4%, and that was a high-end performance among industrialised countries.
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