Five countries that started close together, and went separate ways
Around 1990, most of these countries sat in the same low-income, high-poverty bracket. Three decades on, they have pulled apart on income, health and poverty. The figures below come from the World Bank and the UN Development Programme.
What the numbers show
Four were bunched together in 1990
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and India had human development scores between 0.396 and 0.446. By 2023 they ranged from 0.544 to 0.685.
Sri Lanka was never in that bracket
Its 1990 child mortality was 23 per 1,000 births, against 127 to 146 for the other four. It still leads on income, human development, life expectancy and child survival.
Bangladesh caught up; Pakistan fell back
In 1990 Pakistan was richer than Bangladesh and had the longest life expectancy of the four. By 2024 Bangladesh matched India on income per person, and Pakistan trailed both on income, life expectancy and child survival.
Extreme poverty fell almost everywhere
India and Nepal are now under 3%, as was Sri Lanka in 2019, before its 2022 economic crisis. Pakistan is the exception: its rate rose from 16.5% in 2018 to 23.0% in 2024.
The indicators, country by country
Lighter bars show the earlier year; darker bars show the latest.
Income per person, 1990 and 2024
GDP per capita in current U.S. dollars. In 1990 every country was under $500 a head. Today Sri Lanka is at about three times Pakistan or Nepal.
India
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
Nepal
For reference, United States: $23,889 (1990) → $86,170 (2024).
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, NY.GDP.PCAP.CD.
Life expectancy at birth, 1990 and 2024
Years a newborn can expect to live. In 1990 Pakistan had the longest life expectancy of the four lower-ranked countries; today it has the shortest.
India
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
Nepal
For reference, United States: 75.2 yrs (1990) → 78.9 yrs (2024).
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, SP.DYN.LE00.IN.
Share living on under $3 a day, earliest survey and latest
Lower is better. Survey years differ by country and are shown beside each figure. Sri Lanka’s latest survey predates its 2022 economic crisis.
India
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
Nepal
No comparable U.S. figure is published at this poverty line.
Source: World Bank, Poverty and Inequality Platform, SI.POV.DDAY ($3.00 a day, 2021 PPP).
Human Development Index, 1990 and 2023
A UN composite of health, education and income, from 0 to 1.
India
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
Nepal
For reference, United States: 0.878 (1990) → 0.938 (2023).
Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2025, via Our World in Data.
Deaths before age 5 per 1,000 births, 1990 and 2024
Lower is better. Sri Lanka today is level with the United States.
India
Pakistan
Bangladesh
Sri Lanka
Nepal
For reference, United States: 11.2 (1990) → 6.5 (2024).
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators, SH.DYN.MORT.
The full table
| Country | Income per person 1990 → 2024 | Human Development Index 1990 → 2023 | Life expectancy 1990 → 2024 | Under-5 deaths per 1,000 1990 → 2024 | Extreme poverty earliest → latest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | $371 → $2,592 | 0.446 → 0.685 | 58.6 yrs → 72.2 yrs | 127.0 → 26.6 | 47.5% [1993] → 2.6% [2023] |
| Pakistan | $344 → $1,479 | 0.396 → 0.544 | 59.7 yrs → 67.8 yrs | 140.4 → 56.0 | 79.5% [1990] → 23.0% [2024] |
| Bangladesh | $283 → $2,593 | 0.397 → 0.685 | 55.8 yrs → 74.9 yrs | 146.5 → 30.5 | 51.2% [1991] → 5.9% [2022] |
| Sri Lanka | $491 → $4,545 | 0.638 → 0.776 | 69.2 yrs → 77.7 yrs | 23.3 → 5.9 | 23.4% [1990] → 2.7% [2019] |
| Nepal | $186 → $1,460 | 0.404 → 0.622 | 54.8 yrs → 70.6 yrs | 138.4 → 25.1 | 71.1% [1995] → 2.4% [2022] |
| United States | $23,889 → $86,170 | 0.878 → 0.938 | 75.2 yrs → 78.9 yrs | 11.2 → 6.5 | n/a |
Income is GDP per capita in current U.S. dollars, so 1990 figures are not adjusted for inflation; compare countries within a year, not across years. Extreme poverty is the share living on less than $3.00 a day (2021 prices), from household surveys taken in the years shown in brackets; no U.S. figure is published on this basis.
Rights and freedoms
This section uses two independent sources: V-Dem's civil liberties index for the long trend since 1990, and Pew Research Center's religious-restrictions indexes for how minorities of faith fare today.
No measure of rights and freedoms is beyond dispute. The leading indices rely on the judgment of country experts, and governments that score poorly often reject them. Yet independent indices built by different teams, using different methods, largely agree, which suggests the broad picture is sound even where individual scores are debatable.
Civil liberties, 1990 to 2025
V-Dem's index scores freedom of expression and association, freedom from political violence, and equal protection of the law, from 0 (none) to 1 (full). Higher is better.
| Country | 1990 | 2000 | 2014 | 2020 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | 0.73 | 0.75 | 0.71 | 0.54 | 0.53 |
| Pakistan | 0.49 | 0.51 | 0.52 | 0.49 | 0.47 |
| Bangladesh | 0.51 | 0.66 | 0.47 | 0.39 | 0.63 |
| Sri Lanka | 0.46 | 0.58 | 0.59 | 0.66 | 0.82 |
| Nepal | 0.56 | 0.62 | 0.78 | 0.76 | 0.74 |
| United States | 0.95 | 0.95 | 0.95 | 0.92 | 0.83 |
- India led the group in 1990 and 2000 and held above 0.7 through 2014, then fell sharply; it now ranks fourth of the five.
- Sri Lanka moved the other way, from the lowest score in 1990, during its civil war, to the highest today.
- Bangladesh fell to its lowest point under Sheikh Hasina's government and recovered after her fall in 2024. Pakistan has barely moved and remains the lowest.
Religious freedom, 2023
Pew scores two things from 0 to 10, where higher is worse: restrictions on religion imposed by governments, and hostility toward religious groups from individuals and organized groups in society.
| Country | Government restrictions | Social hostilities |
|---|---|---|
| India | 6.4 · High | 8.8 · Very high |
| Pakistan | 7.1 · Very high | 7.5 · Very high |
| Bangladesh | 5.5 · High | 7.8 · Very high |
| Sri Lanka | 5.9 · High | 6.3 · High |
| Nepal | 5.4 · High | 6.2 · High |
All five score high or very high on both measures. The region's religious tensions are shared, even where its other trends diverge. India has the highest social-hostilities score of the five; Pakistan has the most government restrictions.
Sources: V-Dem Institute, Varieties of Democracy dataset v16 (2026), civil liberties index (v2x_civlib), built from country-expert surveys. Pew Research Center, Government Restrictions Index and Social Hostilities Index, 2023 data, published 2026. Pew's series begins in 2007, so it has no 1990 baseline.
