Rich countries, rich states affected more by Covid: Report

As the country is battling with a disastrous outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the data analysed by the various platforms depict that countries with high per capita GDP have been associated with higher Covid-19 deaths per million comparing to low per capita countries. The same trend was visible in India where prosperous states like Maharashtra and Punjab are affected more by the virus with a higher death rate in comparison with the poorer states, writes ETV Bharat's Deputy News Editor, Krishnanand Tripathi.

New Delhi:Whether the spread of Covid-19 has anything to do with the prosperity level of a country or state in India? There are no easy answers but according to the data compiled by the economists of the State Bank of India, rich and developed countries seem to be affected more by the highly contagious virus and have a higher death rate per million population.

The data analysed by ETV Bharat also shows the same trend was visible in India where prosperous states like Maharashtra and Punjab are affected more by the virus with a higher death rate in comparison with the poorer states such as Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, and Jharkhand. “Global experience shows that countries with high per capita GDP have been associated with higher Covid-19 deaths per million, while low per capita countries are associated with low Covid-19 deaths, revealing high-income countries suffered more during the pandemic,” said a research report by India’s largest bank - State Bank of India.

According to the information available on worldometers.info which was analysed by ETV Bharat, countries with high per capita income such as the USA, France, UK, Germany, Spain and Italy also experienced high deaths per million population. The world's biggest economy, the USA is still the world's most affected country by the Covid-19 virus with nearly 35 million confirmed Covid cases and over 6,21,000 deaths. The world's most technologically sophisticated country has a death rate of 1,866 persons per million population.

Other rich countries have an even higher per million death rate, Italy (2,114), UK (1,879), Spain (1,730), France (1,699), Portugal (1,683) and Sweden (1436). Brazil, which has the second-highest Covid death count with over 524,000 fatalities, has a high death rate of 2,450 people per million population.

The only notable exception among large economies was China, which has a death rate of just three people per million population. In contrast to the high death rate in the developed economies, a developing country like India, which suffered an exceptionally ferocious second Covid wave in April-May this year still has a death rate of 289 people per million population. Similarly, India’s neighbours such as Pakistan (100), Bangladesh (92) and Sri Lanka (150) also reported lower per million deaths due to the Covid-19 virus.

Similar trend across Indian states

If one looks at state-wise caseload and fatality data of Indian states then the same trend of rich and prosperous regions and countries reporting higher death rates were also visible in the country. “Indian experience shows that states with high per capita GDP have been associated with higher Covid-19 deaths per million, while low per capita GDP are associated with low Covid-19 deaths,” SBI’s Chief Economist Soumya Kanti Ghosh said in the report. Ghosh said states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Rajasthan all have low per capita income and low deaths per million. “At the same time, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh have high per capita income and high deaths per million,” he wrote in the report.

High per capita income, high death rate

According to the data of Covid19India.org analysed by ETV Bharat, India’s one of the most prosperous and industrialised states Maharashtra accounted for the maximum fatalities with over 1,23,000 Covid deaths in the country, which is over 30% of the total Covid deaths in the country. Similarly, other prosperous states like Karnataka (35,367), Tamil Nadu (33,005), Union Territory of Delhi (24,997), Punjab (16,110), and Kerala (13,818) reported higher Covid deaths in comparison with poorer states.

Low per capita income, low death rate

While India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh reported 22,640 deaths, which is less than one-fifth of Maharashtra’s Covid death toll despite having nearly twice the population. Similarly, other less developed states such as West Bengal (17,817), Bihar (9,601), and Jharkhand (5,115) reported a low per million Covid death toll.