How to manage Britain’s aid to India? The fast-rising country has a space programme, costing nearly the same as Britain gives in annual aid. To many people, that is reason enough to cut all aid.
Yet, at the same time, India is one of the world’s poorest countries. 456 million people live on less than $1.25 per day. Annual income per person is only $1,180, compared to $3,650 in China and $41,370 in the UK. That means there are 20 percent more poor people in India than in sub-Saharan Africa.
But India receives only $1.50 in aid per person, compared to $28 for Sub-Saharan Africa. A good example of India’s plight is Bihar province, which has population the size of Germany’s. Annual income per person in Bihar is £198, compared to £23,430 in the UK and the province has twice the number of Ethiopia’s poor.
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