Juan Diego Caballero

Jan 29, 2024 | brookings.edu | Wolfgang Fengler |Juan Diego Caballero |Vijeth Iyengar

Because demographic shifts are incremental, gradual, and long-term, most people do not look carefully at new data until the change is so significant that they are forced to pay attention. Last year marked three demographic milestones: The global population topped ; India overtook China as the most populous country in the world; and China saw its first population decrease in decades.

Jul 25, 2023 | brookings.edu | Wolfgang Fengler |Homi Kharas |Juan Diego Caballero |Luís Miroto Simões

The continuous growth of the global consumer class is the biggest news that no one is talking about. Surprisingly, neither the global financial crisis, COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, nor high inflation have stopped the growth of the consumer class. Economic momentum in Asia and higher life expectancy everywhere mean that world consumers are countering even the most severe economic shocks in recent years.

Apr 14, 2023 | brookings.edu | Juan Diego Caballero |Marco Fengler

On April 14th, 2023, India is set to overtake China as the world’s most populous country. This historic event marks a turning point in global demography, with India reassuming a position it last held in the 1700s as part of the Mughal Empire. The global consumer class—India or China? At the turn of the century, the global consumer class (those spending more than $12 a day in 2017 PPP) was a western concept, and global brands were western brands, as the rest of the world was too poor to afford them.