Sir, I found you interested in economic news, same as me, so I tell you an interesting comparison about poverty and richness of India and Pakistan w.r.t. to China which most of the Indian and Pakistani members here won’t know. First, the news you have, has very correct information.
Its mainly because, total population of India dependent on agriculture is around 50% which has share of only around 15% in its economy. While only around 43% population of Pakistan is based on agriculture who has share of around 22% in its economy. Hence, people based on agriculture in Pakistan earn around 1.5 times to that of India even if Indian government gives heavy subsidies to farmers, much higher than Pakistan, and also agriculture output is tax free in India. And the result is, around 50% people of India based in agriculture is categorized as poor, around 300mil out of total 600mil, while around 40% population of Pakistan based on agriculture sector are categorized as poor. And the result,
around 42% of total population of India would be said to be poor, around 500mil, as compare to 23% of Pakistan around 40mil, as per the news you have as below:
In absolute terms, 41.6 per cent of India's 1.1 billion people earned less than 78 pence per day compared with 22.6 per cent of Pakistan's 173 million.
Indian poverty levels higher than Pakistan's, says UN report - Telegraph
As per statistics, India provides around Rs855 billion subsidy to its farmers to reduce their production cost, whereas Pakistan hardly spends Rs8 billion in this regard.
MFN status to ruin agriculture, industry alike | The Nation
Pakistan
Labor force by occupation: agriculture: 43%
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 21.8%
Pakistan Economy 2011, CIA World Factbook
But one more interesting thing we have; GDP on PPP of India, Pakistan and China was around $4,450bn, $485bn and $11tn respectively in 2011 and it is estimated that around 50% of the GDP size of India and Pakistan are undocumented while china has around 35%. This way GDP on PPP of Pakistan, India and China would be around $700bn, $7.0tn and $15tn respectively if we include 'undocumented part' of GDP also. And from here, as per the news you have, 500mil people of India would be called poor with per capita income of around $1,000 on PPP with share of $500bn in its $7tn economy leaving $6.5tn for rest of 700mil, on an average of around $9,300 per capita income. Similarly, 40mil poor people of Pakistan would also have same per capita income of $1,000 with share of $40bn in its $700bn economy leaving $660bn for rest of 133mil with on average around $5,000 per head. And
as we consider per capita income of $12,000 to categorize a country as a middle order country, we hope this whole 700mil people of India would be categorized as middle class within 3-4 years considering 7% to 8% growth rate, which is more than total population of EU27+US. And for Pakistan, I heard they have around 30mil middle class right now with per capita income of around $12,000 on PPP with share of $360bn in its remaining $660bn, leaving around $300bn for rest of around 103mil people with per capita income of $3,000. Hence, with expected 3% to 4% growth rate for Pakistan for next 3-4 years,
Pakistan’s middle class number would be around 35mil as compare to 700mil of India by 2015
And for China, I heard China would have around 600mil ‘upper’ middle class with per capita income of $20,000 with share of $12tn out of $15tn (including undocumented part of GDP on PPP). Therefore, rest of 750mil Chinese people are left with around $4,000 per capita income on PPP only, giving China a big advantage of having low cost labor along with high grade infrastructure and much improved production lines, making it very easy for their manufactures to produce cheap but high quality products. (As, if we consider Pakistan GDP on PPP around $700bn including 'undocumented part', its per capita income itself comes around $4,000 for whole 175mil people, similar to 750mil people of China.)