India against Pakistan: The story of two economies in terms of gross domestic product, jobs, inflation

While geopolitical tensions between India and Pakistan are once again manufactured the headlines of international newspapers, the economic gap between the two countries was not broader. A few decades ago, Pakistan was ahead of India in some economic areas, but Pakistan is largely behind India through the main economic indicators.

From GDP growth and the individual entered into inflation and employment monitoring trends, India rose forward with fixed reforms and strong economic performance, while Pakistan struggles with stagnation and instability. While both countries are competing for the influence, the fixed economic rise in India is the greatest impact on the global theater.

GDP to happen

According to the data of the International Monetary Fund on the gross domestic product of the individual (current prices, in US dollars), India has shown strong economic progress over the past two decades. In 2000, the per capita GDP in Pakistan was at a price of $ 733 is much higher than India, which amounted to only $ 442. This gap indicated that at that time, Pakistan had an economic production for every person compared to India. However, this early forefront has been reflected in recent years, as India has shown faster growth in the gross domestic product of the individual since then.

From $ 1560 in 2014, the per capita GDP in India has increased to $ 2711 by 2024, which represents an increase of 74 % over the past ten years. On the other hand, Pakistan’s performance was relatively stagnant. Starting 1424 dollars in 2014, it rose to only 1581 dollars in 2024, with modest growth of 11 % in this period. During this period – from $ 11,120 in 2014 to $ 13,933 in 2024, the average domestic product of the global individual grew during this period – from $ 11,120 in 2014 to $ 13,933 in 2024, reflecting 24 % growth over the past decade. This comparison highlights that India has not only exceeded Pakistan, but also outperformed the global average in recent years in terms of individual income growth.
GDP at current prices

Also, the gross domestic product data (billions of US dollars) reveals a sharp rise in the economic size in India and its global importance. In 2000, GDP in India amounted to $ 468 billion, which contributed 1.37 % in global GDP. Pakistan, on the other hand, the GDP reached 99 billion dollars in 2000 and its share of Global GDP was 0.29 % in 2000.

The contract from 2014 to 2024 highlights the impressive economic expansion in India. The gross domestic product in India doubled from approximately $ 2039 billion in 2014 to $ 3,909 billion in 2024, reflecting the growth of 92 %. On the other hand, India’s share of global gross domestic product increased from 2.55 % to 3.54 %, indicating a strengthened role in the global economy.

On the other hand, the GDP in Pakistan grew from $ 271 billion to $ 373 billion, which represents 37 % growth during the same period. However, its global share remained unchanged at 0.34 %. For context, global GDP grew 38 % over the course of the decade to $ 110.5 trillion in 2024. Thus, India’s growth exceeded the global average, while Pakistan had the same growth rate, highlighting the clear difference in economic momentum between neighbors.

Real GDP growth

Data related to the growth of real GDP over the past decade emerges strong economic momentum in India compared to Pakistan and the global average.

Between 2015 and 2025, India recorded the average annual GDP growth rate by 6.08 %, which is the highest among the three. Despite the acute shrinkage in 2020 due to the epidemic (-5.8 %), India has folded strongly with 9.7 % growth rates in 2021, 7.6 % in 2022, and 9.2 % in 2023.

On the other hand, Pakistan’s economy showed a more volatile and weaker performance, with an average of only 3.43 % during the same period. It faced a contraction in 2020 until negative growth in 2023 (-0.2 %), indicating repeated economic challenges. The global economy grew at an average rate of 3.11 % during this period, which puts India much higher than the global direction and a confirmation of its position as one of the fastest growing major economies.

Unemployment

Likewise, according to the maximum available data, unemployment trends from 2018 to 2025 also shows contradictory image between India and Pakistan. The unemployment rate in India, which was relatively high, decreased by 8.9 % in 2018, steadily to 4.9 % by 2025, indicating improving the labor market over the years. On the other hand, the unemployment rate in Pakistan, which reached 5.8 % in 2018, increased to an increase, increased to 8 % by 2025. In particular, while India witnessed a sharp decrease in unemployment after 2021, Pakistan witnessed a significant increase in 2023, indicating increasing challenges of employment in its economy.

Economic inflation

Data related to inflation rates on the basis of average consumer prices reveal different trends for India, Pakistan and the world over the past decade. India maintained a relatively stable inflation environment, at a rate of 4.9 % in 2015 and 4.7 % in 2024, which led to an average of 10 years by 4.97 %, which is slightly over the global average of 4.46 %. Globally, inflation increased moderately from 2.7 % in 2015 to 5.7 % in 2024.

In a blatant contradiction, Pakistan has seen a severe inflation. While the rate was 4.5 % modest in 2015, it increased to 23.4 % by 2024, which led to the average inflation for 10 years by 10.81 %-more than twice the global number. This indicates great economic pressures and fluctuating in a Pakistan pricing environment throughout the decade.