Your doctor can settle an important issue. For India to be the world's third-largest economy, its size has to cross $5 trillion. The IMF says the size of India's economy will grow from roughly 3.5 trillion now to $5 trillion in 2026-27. The government believes it can make that happen even earlier. Only your doctor can tell how soon that can happen.
You may have heard infrastructure and manufacturing will drive India's GDP growth. That's right, but you may not have realised that the GDP growth depends hugely on your own health and fitness too. Why? Because, just like roads, railways, factories, etc. you too are an important economic asset for your country.
On World Health Day today, let's see how your health is linked to India's GDP growth.
What's your economic value?
To put it simply, healthy people are more productive and this directly as well as indirectly impacts economic growth which is then measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). People who are healthy are more likely to hold steady jobs, which further ensures that they have an increasing capacity to spend and save. Ill health causes morbidity which makes people less productive. It causes absenteeism as sick people have to go on leave. Ill health can also cause mortality, that is death, which can result in fewer hands available for work in a country.
When a worker’s experience, skills and ability are assigned an economic value, it is called human capital. On its own, human capital is an intangible asset which does not figure into a company or country's accounts. But, since human capital is directly linked to productivity, when a company or country invests in its workers (to train them better, keep them healthy, etc.), it increases their ability to be productive. Therefore, better human capital increases productivity and thus profitability. Good health of workers also translates into savings due to less expenditure on health care.
Human capital may be intangible but its impact on the economy is tangible and thus measurable too. To put it in more tangible terms, a recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute has found, the effects of poor health on productivity could be pulling the world’s GDP growth down by about 15 per cent every year. The report also found that premature death and poor health in general cost the global conomy an average of 43 days per person, and that chronic conditions erode global productivity by 5 percent, translating into the aforementioned 15 per cent GDP loss. The World Bank too says that there is a strong and growing body of evidence showing that better health contributes to the rapid growth of GDP.
In Japan, economic growth has lowered because its population has aged rapidly. It does not have as many fit-to-work people as it needs. But in India, in contrast, more than half the population is under 25, That's called a demographic dividend because it is supposed to deliver economic returns. So, isn't India fighting fit?
Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/indicators/world-health-day-indias-5-trillion-dream-depends-on-your-health/articleshow/99316118.cms
Комментарии