Wealth Gap

2 Sep 2010 - We hear a lot about the (growing) wealth gap in Asia, but sometimes it is difficult to get some facts about this phenomena. Edusports, an Indian agency promoting sport in schools, just published a survey about the health status of India's city children. The shocking result is that 23% of these children aged between five and 14 in city schools is considered overweight. About one in 10 were even considered obese, according to the measurements of the WHO children's body mass index. There are no figures available about teh health status of the same age group in rural areas, but it is fair to assume that a good part is still considered underweight. These statistics point to the widening wealth gap between India's booming cities and impoverished rural areas. And I am pretty convinced that other Asian countries, notably China, show similar trends.