Two Indias

India’s Ecological Footprint – the amount of productive land and sea area required to produce the resources it consumes and absorb its waste – has doubled since 1961, according to the Global Footprint Network. India’s biocapacity footprint is exceeded only by the United States and China.

However, India’s per capita Ecological Footprint, of 0.8 global hectares, is smaller than most countries and almost a third of the world average of 2.2 global hectares. In fact, even though India’s GDP has tripled since 1961, its per capita footprint fell by 12 percent.