A report ‘BRICS joint statistical publication’ by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation showed India lags behind most of the BRICS Countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) on many social and economic parameters including health, education, infant mortality, electricity consumption and other indicators.
The report showed that India is at the bottom in the group of five countries including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa when the public expenditure on health and education is concerned. India spends 3.5 % of its GDP on education and 1.8% on health, the lowest among the five Countries. While South Africa was at the top with regard to expenditure on education spending 6.9 % of its GDP, China led the pack in health expenditure spending 7.1 % of its GDP on health-related needs.
Data regarding hospital beds per 1,000 persons in the country has reflected a grim picture of the Country. While India has 0.61 beds per 1000 persons, Russia is at the top with 8 beds per 1,000 persons. India’s poor status of public health infrastructure was quite evident during first and second wave of Covid-19. According to report, share of public expenditure on health to GDP in India is 1.8 while it is 4.8 in Brazil, 4.6 in Russia, 7.1 in China and 4.2 in South Africa.
Similarly, the report showed a higher infant mortality rate in India as it was at the second position with the rate 23 after South Africa with the rate 23.6.
So far as per capita consumption of electricity is concerned India is far behind other counterparts. Russia led the group with 7563-kilowatt hours while India was at the bottom with 1208 kilowatt-hours. The economic growth of a country depends a lot upon the ability to provide affordable, reliable and sustainable energy to citizens. Lower consumption also points towards the shortage of affordable electricity.
Similarly, India lags behind its other counterparts on the availability of road infrastructure. While India is at the bottom with 313,000 km of highways, China tops with 5158,000 Kms of highways. A wide network of highways is an important indicator of the economic development of a Country.
India scored lower even in the per capita GDP of 1945 US dollar. On the other side, China was at the top with the per capita GDP of 10438 US dollars showing the wide gap between the two countries so far as the prime economic indicator is concerned.
