In New Delhi, a woman wields a pickaxe on a footpath maintenance project while her husband rests and her baby sleeps

The standard of living in India is constantly improving. However the gap between the poor and rich is ever more visible. The single most common indicator which is used to quantify standard of living is the per capita purchasing power parity (PPP) adjusted gross domestic product (GDP). In 2003, the per capita PPP adjusted GDP for India was US$ 3100. These figures can be compared to $33,000 for the USA, $4,900 for China and approximately $26,000 for most western European nations. Image File history File links Delhi-workers. ... Image File history File links Delhi-workers. ... The Standard of living refers to the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people and the way these services and goods are distributed within a population. ... The Standard of living refers to the quality and quantity of goods and services available to people and the way these services and goods are distributed within a population. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A regions gross domestic product, or GDP, is one of several measures of the size of its economy. ...

With one of the fastest growing economies in the world, clocked at an average growth rate of 7% between 2000-2003, India is fast on way to become a large and globally important consumer economy. However there is no indication how the growth rate will narrow the gap between one of world's richest men, Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, and the poor woman working so hard in the photo. For example 70% of the Indian population don't have toilets at home and usually go to the footpath, farm or any outdoor place for ablutions. In 2006, 22 percent of Indians lived under the poverty line, down from 50 percent in 1995. With consistently high economic growth over the next decade, however, India is aiming to eradicate poverty by 2020.^[1] The World in plate carrée projection The World In English, world is rooted in a compound of the obsolete words were, man, and eld, age; thus, its oldest meaning is age or life of man. Its primary modern meaning is the planet Earth, especially when capitalized: the World. ... See economic growth Growth rate (group theory) Population growth rate This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The consumer economy is the part of an economy directed at end consumers rather than intermediary businesses. ... Lakshmi Narayan Mittal (also known as Lakshmi Niwas Mittal) is an Indian billionaire industrialist, born on 15 June (not certain) 1950 in Sadulpur, in Churu district of Rajasthan, India, and residing in Kensington Palace Gardens, London, UK. He is the 5th richest man in the world and, according to the... A sidewalk (North American English), or pavement or footpath (Commonwealth English), is a path, usually constructed of concrete (particularly in the United States, and Canada), asphalt, brick (particularly in Europe) or stone, designed for pedestrian traffic and often running alongside a road. ... Bales of hay on a farm near Ames, Iowa A farm is the basic unit in agriculture. ...

Poverty-stricken people washing their clothes by a road in Mumbai, India. by Antônio Milena/ABr

The Indian middle class, touted to be anywhere between 100 and 300 million depending on the data used, is fast becoming used to the Western consumer lifestyle. Though large disparities exist, the standard of living of the average Indian is slowly but definitely rising and, if current trends continue, will grow to be approximately one third that of the developed world (in PPP dollars) by the middle of the 21st century. Download high resolution version (480x640, 73 KB)Women washing clothes in ditch alongside main road in Mumbai, India. ... Download high resolution version (480x640, 73 KB)Women washing clothes in ditch alongside main road in Mumbai, India. ... Mumbai (Marathi: मुंबई) (pronounced ), formerly known as Bombay, is the capital of the state of Maharashtra, and the most populous city of India, with an estimated population of about 13 million (as of 2006)[1]. Mumbai is located on Salsette Island, off the west coast of Maharashtra. ... The middle class (or middle classes) comprises a social group once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry. ... A developed country is a country that has achieved (currently or historically) a high degree of industrialization, and which enjoys the higher standards of living which wealth and technology make possible. ...

In the field of technology, India has entered the industry earning a good reputation, as well as a positive stereotype.

The standard of living in India can range in magnitudes such as limited medical facilities in rural areas to world class medical facilities in the cities. The very latest machinery is used in construction projects, but many of those in the extremely large labour pool still work without mechanisation. Even in downtown New Delhi, maintenance gangs can be seen using musclepower rather than machinery, as the photo on this page illustrates.

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