A recent Business Week article suggested that it is time to focus more on the Indian middle class than on the Chinese middle class consumer. India has about 300 million in the middle class today versus 200-300 million middle class Chinese, depending on your information source. Business Week postures that India’s middle class will be better consumers than their Chinese counterparts.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_05/b4165084462859.htm
The Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission announced in September 2009 that the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Beijing in 2008 was $9,075 and is likely to reach $10,000 by the end of 2009. (Stratfor)
AdAgeChina recently stated that over the next 15 years, China’s so-called gray market of consumers aged 50 plus will become the most potent spending demographic on the planet. By 2025, there will be more than 500 million “mature” Chinese consumers, or almost 36% of the Chinese population. Today, the country has 300 million Chinese over age 50, making up 21% of the population.
There would seem to be sufficient middle class for foreign companies to target in both countries currently, while many fully developed countries have consumers who are reluctant to spend.
