India and the World: Of Lifestyle, Consumption, Energy Demand and Emissions

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman recently said that as India seeks to double its per capita income over the next few years, the upcoming decades will be ‘period defining’ and see the steepest rise in living standards of common people.

Addressing an economic conclave in the Capital, the FM pointed out that it took the country 75 years to reach a per capita income of $2,730, as per IMF projections. “It will take only five years to add another $2,000,” she added. There will be an organic growth in consumption fuelled by young Indians – 43 per cent of them are younger than 24 years old – who are yet to explore their consumption behaviour fully, she said.

The huge headroom for consumption growth will also mean rising demand for energy. Growing consumption has a direct relation to Greenhouse Gas emissions. Though India is likely to end 2024 as the third or fourth largest global emitter of Greenhouse Gases, its share of per capita global emission is less than 5 per cent. The country is home to 17 per cent of world population.

Outlook Business presents a snapshot of how India stacks up with two leading developed countries – United States and Germany - in terms of lifestyle related consumption, energy demand, and emissions on a per capita basis.