ABSTRACT
This chapter asks how population changes have affected economic developments in China and India. Having reviewed and summarized the literature on the relationship between population and economic development, this chapter briefly describes the most fundamental changes of the population and economic development in China and India. While China’s per capita GDP increased from about $307 to about $10,580, India’s per capita GDP grew from about $271 to about $1,880. Between 1980 and 2020, China’s per capita GDP increased about 5.7 times that of India. Using empirical data, this chapter carefully analyzes correlations between population growth, total fertility rate, birth rate, natural increase rate, urbanization, total GDP, and per capita GDP. Empirical data analyses clearly indicate that population growth and urbanization are positively and strongly correlated to total GDP and per capita GDP in both countries. On the other hand, total fertility rate, birth rate, and natural increase rate are negatively correlated to total GDP and per capita GDP in the two societies. The findings of the chapter indicate that China has gone through its population transition much more rapidly than has India and therefore has developed its economy much more rapidly than has India.
