In 1800, the population of the region of present-day India was approximately 169 million. The population would grow gradually throughout the 19th century, rising to over 240 million by 1900. Population growth would begin to increase in the 1920s, as a result of falling mortality rates, due to improvements in health, sanitation and infrastructure. However, the population of India would see it’s largest rate of growth in the years following the country’s independence from the British Empire in 1948, where the population would rise from 358 million to over one billion by the turn of the century, making India the second country to pass the billion person milestone. While the rate of growth has slowed somewhat as India begins a demographics shift, the country’s population has continued to grow dramatically throughout the 21st century, and in 2020, India is estimated to have a population of just under 1.4 billion, well over a billion more people than one century previously. Today, approximately 18% of the Earth’s population lives in India, and it is estimated that India will overtake China to become the most populous country in the world within the next five years.

In 2022, the total population of all ASEAN states amounted to an estimated 673.02 million inhabitants. The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

ASEAN opportunity

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations was founded by five states (Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore) in 1967 to improve economic and political stability and social progress among the member states. It was originally modelled after the European Union. Nowadays, after accepting more members, their agenda also includes an improvement of cultural and environmental conditions. ASEAN is now an important player on the global stage with numerous alliances and business partners, as well as more contenders wanting to join.

The major player in the South

Indonesia is not only a founding member of ASEAN, it is also its biggest contributor in terms of gross domestic product and is also one of the member states with a positive trade balance. In addition, it has the highest number of inhabitants by far. About a third of all people in the ASEAN live in Indonesia – and it is also one of the most populous countries worldwide. Among the ASEAN members, it is certainly the most powerful one, not just in numbers, but mostly due to its stable and thriving economy.

Based on a comparison of coronavirus deaths in 210 countries relative to their population, Peru had the most losses to COVID-19 up until July 13, 2022. As of the same date, the virus had infected over 557.8 million people worldwide, and the number of deaths had totaled more than 6.3 million. Note, however, that COVID-19 test rates can vary per country. Additionally, big differences show up between countries when combining the number of deaths against confirmed COVID-19 cases. The source seemingly does not differentiate between "the Wuhan strain" (2019-nCOV) of COVID-19, "the Kent mutation" (B.1.1.7) that appeared in the UK in late 2020, the 2021 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) from India or the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) from South Africa.

The difficulties of death figures

This table aims to provide a complete picture on the topic, but it very much relies on data that has become more difficult to compare. As the coronavirus pandemic developed across the world, countries already used different methods to count fatalities, and they sometimes changed them during the course of the pandemic. On April 16, for example, the Chinese city of Wuhan added a 50 percent increase in their death figures to account for community deaths. These deaths occurred outside of hospitals and went unaccounted for so far. The state of New York did something similar two days before, revising their figures with 3,700 new deaths as they started to include “assumed” coronavirus victims. The United Kingdom started counting deaths in care homes and private households on April 29, adjusting their number with about 5,000 new deaths (which were corrected lowered again by the same amount on August 18). This makes an already difficult comparison even more difficult. Belgium, for example, counts suspected coronavirus deaths in their figures, whereas other countries have not done that (yet). This means two things. First, it could have a big impact on both current as well as future figures. On April 16 already, UK health experts stated that if their numbers were corrected for community deaths like in Wuhan, the UK number would change from 205 to “above 300”. This is exactly what happened two weeks later. Second, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which countries already have “revised” numbers (like Belgium, Wuhan or New York) and which ones do not. One work-around could be to look at (freely accessible) timelines that track the reported daily increase of deaths in certain countries. Several of these are available on our platform, such as for Belgium, Italy and Sweden. A sudden large increase might be an indicator that the domestic sources changed their methodology.

Where are these numbers coming from?

The numbers shown here were collected by Johns Hopkins University, a source that manually checks the data with domestic health authorities. For the majority of countries, this is from national authorities. In some cases, like China, the United States, Canada or Australia, city reports or other various state authorities were consulted. In this statistic, these separately reported numbers were put together. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

The statistic shows the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in India from 1987 to 2029. In 2020, the estimated gross domestic product per capita in India amounted to about 1,915.55 U.S. dollars. See figures on India's economic growth here. For comparison, per capita GDP in China had reached about 6,995.25 U.S. dollars in 2013.

India's economic progress

India’s progress as a country over the past decade can be attributed to a global dependency on cheaper production of goods and services from developed countries around the world. India’s economy is built upon its agriculture, manufacturing and services sector, which, along with its drastic rise in population and demand for employment, led to a significant increase of the nation’s GDP per capita. Despite experiencing rather momentous economic gains since the mid 2000s, the Indian economy stagnated around 2012, with a decrease in general growth as well as the value of its currency. Residents and consumers in India have recently shown pessimism regarding the future of the Indian economy as well as their own financial situation, and with the recent economic standstill, consumer confidence in the country could potentially lower in the near future.

Typical Indian exports consist of agricultural products, jewelry, chemicals and ores. Imports consist primarily of crude oil, gold and precious stones, used primarily in the manufacturing of jewelry. As a result, India has seen a rather highly increased demand of several gems in order to boost their jewelry industry and in general their exports. Although India does not export an extensive amount of goods, especially when considering the stature of the country, India has remained as one of the world’s largest exporters.