Economies in Egypt and India

Name:

Institution:

INDIA

YEAR GDP

2003-2009 9%

1991 5.3%

1995 7.3%

2000 6%

Poverty level in India

Year 2010 29.8%

1993-1994 and 2004-05 775 of Indians live on 0.50 dollars a day

The Global Hunger Index 1996-2011 it went up to 23.7%

The Human Development Index in India 1980-2012 has risen annually from 0.345-0.554

EGYPT

GDP per capital in US dollars

YEAR 1981 1,354.81

1991 2,524.99

2001 3,685.98

2006 4534.82

The Human Development Index in Egypt 1980-2012 has risen from 0.407 to 0.662

The Gender Inequality Index is 112/187

The economy of India is one of the largest in the world. India as much as it has enjoyed economic growth it has suffered economic fluctuations as well. The economy of India in the years 1947-1991 was a mixed economy; it was composed of capitalism and socialism. The use of capitalism has been associated with a lot of consequences and therefore during this period India suffered certain inefficiencies like corruption. Therefore the system did fail. The next policy that the country adopted was liberal and free market principles in the year 1991. India then was able to engage in international trade. Their economy grew as it was able to develop its infrastructure and this was seen in the increase in the per capita incomes.

The economy of Egypt just like the one in India has had its ups and downs. The country’s macroeconomic performance in the 1990s improved with them having been involved in the gulf war hence been able to get reliefs. Egypt had also been able to get funds from the International monetary fund. The next century also started well for Egypt as they improved their infrastructure and also use better policies to deal with the inefficiencies.

Egypt however has made some decisions that have affected their economy and one of those factors is inequality whereby the government after getting its wealth it’s not able to equitably share the wealth. This leads to some parts of the country been under developed a condition mostly associated with the developing nations. Inequality has also lead to the country’s most productive people been left with no employment and those lucky are under employed. The less developed parts in Egypt have led to lack of infrastructure growth hence access to education to the larger population has become impossible.

Inequality in Egypt is also seen in gender where women do no easily participate in their economy due to social and religious influences. These influences have led to women not been active in education since they are not allowed to involve themselves in careers. Poverty in Egypt has risen over the last three decades; this has also led to food insecurity affecting mostly the children. The rural areas are mostly affected and this is the larger population as it totals to 69%, these are people living below the poverty level. There is a large gap in Egypt between the rich and the poor one is in one end and the other is in the other extreme end. This can be seen in annual household income with the poor having $4090 income while their expenditures average is $ 5154. As can be seen from the data found most of the population uses $0.50 a day thereby showing that majority of Egyptians live under the poverty line as the World Bank has set $ 2 a day for a normal household.

Research has shown that in Egypt there is a literacy rate over 71% with males taking the upper hand. This does not come as a surprise seeing that there is a lot of poverty and inequality in Egypt making it hard for the larger majority to attain education. Most nations have been able to eradicate poverty but following the millennium development goals but Egypt has been left behind. By the year 2000 statistics show that 16.7% of Egyptians were living below the national poverty line and it has actually increased in the next years.

The level of poverty in Egypt has not only been measured by how much they spend or earn in a day but also by their level of living. This has also shown that poverty is real in Egypt since there is no easy access to better health; the level of education is really low and also availability of education facilities. The youths also have no jobs and are left unemployed for a long time.

What really causes poverty in Egypt it has been said that prices of food in Cairo is unbearable and most people cannot afford hence leading to child mortality since children cannot deal with temporary hunger. The lack of access to food makes it hard for the population to work and even go to school and better their future. However the main cause of poverty in Egypt is the high population growth, its population has increased from 44 million in the year 1981 and is now 80 million. The population is rising but less is done to cater for the growing population. High unemployment is also a cause of poverty in the country as most youths are unemployed and this can be associated with the effects of the increase in population. The policies adopted to deal with inefficiencies in Egypt have also contributed to poverty. The country is endowed with resources but mostly they are not efficiently used. The measures taken mostly end up benefiting the rich instead of the poor and more government funds also do not reach all the areas.

In India poverty and inequality has also had an effect on education. There is also the problem of the extremely rich and the extremely poor. Statistics show that 68.7% of the population in India lives on less than $2 a day and hence maybe said that a large population lives under the poverty line. Children in India are the most affected by these poverty levels as it has been seen that 42% of children in India are actually underweight. The Global Hunger Index of India has actually gone up since the year 1996 and is now at 23.7%.Poverty in Nadia is also seen by the fact that human beings do not have the necessary essentials to survive from better health care to lack of food. The poverty level has had an impact on education as the literacy level in India is actually low. Inequality has also led to poverty and also increased illiteracy levels as resources are not equally distributed among the Indians.

The causes of poverty in India are similar to those in Egypt as India also faces high population and also the use of ineffective policies. In India majority of the population which is 60% largely depend on agriculture and growth in agriculture has gone down over he years. This affects the economy too as agriculture contributes 18% to India’s GDP.The land available are not used for high income projects and hence no growth in the sector. Unemployment cases have risen over the decades as the only available employment is mostly farm related and those who move to towns end up frustrated with no jobs.

These effects of poverty and inequality on education show that the way out is alleviating poverty. There are certain measures that the government can use to eradicate poverty and one of them is ensuring there is equality. Resources should be equally distributed to ensure everyone has access to the basic necessities like education and better health centre. The government should also take care of the minority in the society, the women and the children and also focus on the weak sections of the country. Emphasis on education once all these have been implemented will lead to economic growth of the nation.