India's GDP per capita catching up with richer nations, growth worth celebrating: Korean economist

India's economic progress should not be judged solely by how poor or rich the country is today, but by how quickly living standards are improving and how fast it is catching up with other economies, according to South Korean economist Kyunghoon Kim.

The economist pointed to India's rising per capita income and a sharp decline in poverty to argue that the country's economic transformation over the past three decades, particularly the last 10 years, deserves greater attention.

Kim, Head of the India and South Asia Team at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), said on Sunday that his earlier assessment of India's medium-term growth prospects had attracted comments suggesting that India remained poor.

"A more useful question is whether living standards are rising rapidly and whether India is CATCHING UP," he wrote in a detailed post on X.

India's GDP per capita rises sharply

According to the figures shared by Kim, India's GDP per capita stood at $2,702 in 2025, or $11,784 when adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP).

For historical comparisons, he used GDP per capita at constant 2021 PPP prices, which stood at $10,039 in 2025.

Kim noted that India was classified as a low-income country by the World Bank until 2007.

In 1990, India's GDP per capita was only 15% higher than the average for low-income countries. By 2025, it had risen to more than four times that average.

The improvement was also visible when India was compared with middle-income economies, a group that includes fast-growing countries such as China and Vietnam.

India's GDP per capita reached 64% of the middle-income country average in 2025, with much of the catch-up taking place over the past decade.

India narrowing income gap with rich countries

Kim said India's progress against high-income economies had been more gradual but consistent.

In 1990, India's GDP per capita was just 6% of the high-income country average. By 2025, that share had increased to 17%.

The economist attributed part of this improvement to slower economic growth in several wealthy countries.
India's GDP per capita is also approaching half the global average, compared with only one-fifth in 1990.

"Overall, India is pulling further ahead of low-income countries, catching up with high-income countries, and making faster progress towards the middle-income average," Kim wrote.

He also challenged the assumption that developing countries automatically catch up with wealthier economies. "Catch-up is far from automatic," he said, pointing to a marked change in India's relative economic trajectory around 1990.

627 million fewer Indians living in poverty

One of the most significant outcomes of India's economic progress, according to Kim, has been the reduction in poverty.

At the $4.40-a-day poverty line, India's poverty rate declined from 73% in 2004 to 14% in 2023.

That represents a reduction of 627 million in the number of people living below the poverty line in less than two decades, according to the figures cited by the economist.

Kim said these improvements were particularly significant given India's population of around 1.4 billion.

"My conclusion remains the same: India faces many challenges, but its economic catch-up, especially over the past decade, and positive medium-term growth outlook are worth celebrating," he wrote. "For a country of 1.4 billion people, this progress matters enormously."