It is good to know that the Department of Economics & Statistics, Nagaland has released the state’s latest economic data on Wednesday, including the state’s per capita income which are very important ‘numbers’ as they help determine and evaluate the standard of living of the state’s population. Per capita income is the per-person income of the whole population of the state in a specified year calculated by dividing the state’s total income by its total population.
As per the latest data provided by the Department of Economics & Statistics, Nagaland has an advanced estimated per capita income of Rs. 1,35,701 in 2021-22. In 2011-12, the state recorded a per capita income of Rs. Rs. 53,010. This shows that Nagaland achieved a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 9.86 percent as per the Department of Economics & Statistics report.
Of course, per capita income as a metric has limitations like its inability to account for inflation, income disparity, poverty, or savings but it helps determine the average per-person income to evaluate the standard of living for the whole population. Also, it helps in performing comparative studies of different geographical arrangements like districts, states and countries. It will be interesting to analyze the district wise per capita income and gross domestic product of all the districts of Nagaland state, which we hope will now be available for interested individuals.
The national per capita income of India stands at Rs. 1,47,210 which is higher than the Nagaland state per capita income of Rs. 1,35,701. Goa with a per capita income of Rs. 4,35,959 is the state with the highest per capita income in India followed by Sikkim (Rs. 4,03,376) and Delhi (Rs. 3,76,221). Bihar (Rs. 46,292) and Uttar Pradesh (Rs. 65,431) are the two states with the lowest per capita income in India. There is something interesting here because all of the top three states with the highest per capita income are small states. The most notable here is the state of Sikkim. It will be interesting to study the economy of Sikkim and learn from that state.
Both Goa and Sikkim are dependent on the tourism industry for their economy. Tourism industry falls under the tertiary sector. Now, in contrast, as per the latest data released by Department of Economics & Statistics, Nagaland is moving towards a tertiary economy which is estimated to contribute 62.77 percent of the Gross State Value Added (GSVA) in 2021-22. It is often reported that a larger portion of Nagaland’s population are engaged in the primary sector, including agriculture, and are residing in the rural areas. These factors need to be thoroughly investigated in order to get a better idea of the economic metrics in order to formulate policies and strategies for economic development of the state.