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Indians live longer than Pakistanis on average, PM's Economic Advisory Council Member flags

India and Pakistan may share a border, but the two nations show a wide gap in living standards and economic stability. Indians live, on average, five years longer than Pakistanis, according to World Bank data for 2023 cited by Prof. Shamika Ravi, economist and member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council.
India and Pakistan might be sharing the border, but the two neighbours are miles away when it comes to the fundamental quality of lives. Indians live, on average, five years longer than Pakistanis, according to World Bank data from 2023, noted Prof. Shamika Ravi, economist and member of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council.
As per the report, life expectancy at birth in India stands at 72 years, compared with 67.65 years in Pakistan. The data reflects how India's progress has outpaced its neighbour in several areas.
Pakistan's economy has expanded by 3% in the fiscal year 2025 (FY25), and the growth rate is expected to remain the same in the next fiscal year, the World Bank recently said. On the other hand, the global body raised India's economic growth forecast for FY26 to 6.5% from 6.3% earlier. Even so, India is set to remain the world's fastest-growing major economy, supported by resilient consumption growth.
Pakistan's struggling economy
Pakistan's economy has been struggling, and the country is dependent on external loans after an IMF bailout in 2023 brought it back from the brink of default.Pakistan, the richest country in South Asia 50 years ago, was reduced to the poorest due to bad governance, military dictatorships and adoption of promoting cross-border terror as state policy.
Pakistan's $350 billion economy struggled as inflation rose to record high of 38.50% in May 2023, with growth turning negative, reserves shrinking to barely a couple of weeks of controlled imports, and interest rates jumping to 22%. It had reserves of just $3.7 billion remaining. For nearly five years, it remained on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for terror funding which made access to loans difficult.
The economic crisis was the most prolonged, pushing the country to the brink of a sovereign default in the summer of 2023. With Pakistan's debt-to-GDP ratio in a danger zone of 70%, and between 40% and 50% of government revenues earmarked for interest payments in 2023, only default-stricken Sri Lanka, Ghana and Nigeria were worse off.
What pulled it back from the brink of sovereign default was a $3 billion short-term financial bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Long-time allies Saudi Arabia, the UAE and China also rolled over billions of dollars in loans.
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Source: EconomicTimes
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