In case of development of a nation, different section of society have different views on country’s development.
This leads to conflict in the society among different groups.
The conflict of interests needs to be accommodated by the government.
Development can mean different things for different groups of people.
It makes necessary to select a common characteristics of the thingswhich are taken for comparison.
In order to compare the development of nations, the income of the countries is always considered to be one of the most important attributes.
What is Income of a Country
The income of a country means the aggregate of incomes of all the residents of the country. This gives us the Total income of the country.
But total income doesn’t tell us the average income of a person in country which is more appropriate for comparison.
If we divide total income by total population, we get average income, which is also known as Per Capita Income.
The changing GDP Per Capita of India throughout the years(source: Satista.com)
The Per capita income is used as a criteria in comparing development of countries by World Bank when it publishes World Development Report.
As per 2004, countries with per capita income above Rs. 4,53,000 per annum is considered rich countries and per capita income below Rs. 37,000 per annum is considered low-income countries.
India is a low-income country as its average income was 28,000 in 2004.