Chinese and Indian weight in the global middle class

The global middle class divided into citizens from China, India and the rest of the World (RoW). In 2000 only 13.5% of the global middle class were Chinese nationals and no Indians belonged to this group By 2030 citizens from China and India had a combined shared of 44% of the global middle class, with the great majority (38%) being Chinese, in fact half of the total 740 million new entrants into the global middle class will be Chinese nationals.

The importance of China and India in the global middle class will depend on their economic and population growth rates and the changes in their within-country income inequality In fact, due to the relatively unequal distribution in China; its richest citizens could be part of the global middle class in 2000.

By year 2030, after several years of growth rates higher than the world average, China becomes the country that accounted for more global middle class members, hence reshaping the global distribution. Nevertheless, given that the thresholds defining the global middle class are absolute values, Indias growth also results in an increase in the global middle class.

Indias entrance into the global middle class is also partly explained by an increase in Indias income inequality, expanding the upper tail of its distribution further to the right along the global density. This increase in income dispersion helps the richest 5 percent Indian citizens enter the global middle class. Growth in China and India and, to a lesser extent, changes in their within-country inequality will have as an effect a tremendous increase in the global middle class resulting in a substantial improvement in global income inequality.

The Consequences of a Growing Global Middle Class The ascent of hundreds of millions of Chinese, Indians and nationals from other developing countries into the global middle class will produce a large group of people in the developing world who can afford, and will demand access to, the standards of living that were previously reserved mainly for the residents of high-income countries.