PETpla.net Insider 09 / 2019

EDITOUR PET planet Insider Vol. 19 No. 09/19 www.petpla.net 12 The average population density in India is 430 people per km 2 , with the distribution varying widely throughout the country. Its headcount of more than 1.3 billion is only just behind that of China – for now. Forecasts are that it could overtake China within the next two to three years, although China is now increasing, slightly, following the abolition of the one-child policy. In India, advancements in education and growing per capita income have led to a decline in the rate of growth for some years. While the population grew by 1.8% 20 years ago, today’s rate of growth is roughly 1.3%. Traditionally, the fertile regions have been populated much more densely than areas with little rainfall or parts of the Indian Himalayan region. This makes the current situation in the conurbations and metropolises far more extreme. The Dharavi district of Mumbai, for example, has one of the highest population densities in the world, with an estimated 600,000 to one million people living in an area of just two km 2 . However, cities only account for about one third of the total population; most still live in rural areas. India is a “young” country. The average age recorded in 2015 was 27.6 years; a third of its people are less than 15 years old. In 2018, Indian gross domestic product (GDP) was US$ 2.7 bil- lion. Real GDP is growing, albeit at a slower pace than in the past, at around 7% a year. This makes the country one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Inflation is 3.5 percent. Per capita income, meanwhile, is rising steadily and is expected to reach around US$ 2,200 this year. While this is more than 30% higher than 2015, it demonstrates the inequality with which India must contend. Although the country has more billionaires and millionaires than ever before, the majority of the popu- lation remains on the poverty line. The huge economic growth between 2011 and 2014 led to an even greater income disparity between the emerg- ing middle class in the metropolitan areas and the rural population, which accounts for almost 70% of all the people but makes almost no contri- bution to economic growth. Although some 50% of India’s total labour force is employed in agriculture, their share of economic output is declining stead- ily due to a lack of income. Subsist- ence farming is widespread. The winner is the services sector, which contributes more than 50% of GDP but employs a relatively small proportion of the people. The majority – something like 90% of the popula- tion – has no access to health and accident insurance or to any social services. To counteract this, over the long term, the government wants to bring unskilled and low-skilled workers into work, mainly in the manufacturing industry. The extent of this mammoth project becomes clear when one takes into account the fact that just five per cent of all potential employees are qualified for any job at all. A con- siderable investment in the education and healthcare sector will be required in order to achieve a broad impact. A number of projects are currently up and running, including some with sup- port from Europe. In the medium term, direct investments aim to increase the share of GDP accounted for by manufacturing industry, through the large-scale “Make in India” campaign, for example. The progressive privati- sation of state-owned organisations is also driving economic growth. In the cities and conurbations, economic growth has led to consid- erable infrastructural challenges, for many years. The bureaucracy in India is notorious, frequently inefficient and rarely transparent, which slows business processes down. Corrup-