Bangladesh per capita GDP forecast to outstrip India’s: What does it mean?

Bangladesh’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) is projected to be higher than that of Asia’s third largest economy, India, this year, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).GDP is a measure of all goods and services produced within a country during a specific period. India’s GDP is nearly eight times larger than Bangladesh’s. But its neighbour’s per capita GDP, which is GDP divided by the total population, is expected to surpass that of India, the world’s most populous nation.The projected 2026 per capita GDP of Bangladesh, home to about 175 million people, is $2,886, compared with $2,749 in India as Dhaka emerges as one of South Asia’s notable economic success stories over the past two decades. Bangladesh’s economy is currently larger than that of Pakistan, from which Dhaka seceded in 1971.Experts link the rise to the country’s $38bn garment industry, remittances and growing participation of women in the workforce.But high inflation and slowing growth are now putting that progress under pressure. Meanwhile, the Indian economy is expected to grow by 7 percent this year, compared with 3.6 percent in Bangladesh.So how should one read these numbers, and what do they ...