Social Science (087) — AI-generated practice question

Measure: Economists prefer per capita income (average income) over total income for comparing nations.

Why it is more meaningful: Total income does not account for differences in population size. A country may have a high total income but a large population, meaning individuals may still be poor. Per capita income shows what an average person earns, making comparison fairer.

Example: If Country A has total income ₹50,000 crore with 10 crore people, and Country B has ₹40,000 crore with 4 crore people, Country B's per capita income (₹10,000) is higher than Country A's (₹5,000), showing Country B's people are better off on average despite lower total income.

Source: Chapter 1 — Development, "How to Compare Different Countries or States?"

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• The key term examiners expect is per capita income (total income ÷ total population), also called average income.
• The core logic: total income ignores population size; per capita income corrects for this.
• A numerical or contextual example is essential for full marks on a 3-mark question — don't skip it.
• The World Bank uses per capita income to classify countries (e.g., high-income vs. low-income), which reinforces why this measure matters.