India risks becoming "unhealthier before it becomes richer," CEA V Anantha Nageswaran warns

New Delhi: Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran said India's bigger worry isn't ageing before it gets rich, but becoming unhealthier before it gets rich, pointing to rising obesity and sedentary lifestyles that threaten the country's productivity dividend.

Responding to the question of whether India will age before it becomes rich due to falling birth rates and a shrinking youth bulge, Nageswaran said the working-age population will keep rising for some time, giving India a window. "More than worrying about whether we are becoming older before we become richer, I would say whether we are becoming unhealthier before we become richer," he told in an exclusive conversation.

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He cited the National Family Health Survey, which shows improvements in infant mortality, institutional births and maternal health, but "obesity across income levels, across rural or urban and across gender, it has worsened." Nageswaran attributed this to lifestyle, sedentary habits, lack of physical activity, poor urban design, and late evening eating. "6 out of 100 Indians exercise, which is such a shocking number," he said. The CEA argued urban design now "puts a premium on vehicles" rather than cyclists and pedestrians, a point also covered in a special chapter on urbanisation in the Economic Survey.

He urged individuals to build activity into daily routines even without gyms or open spaces--climbing stairs, walking in office corridors or parking lots, avoiding elevators for one or two floors. "If you are sedentary immediately after lunch and dinner, that actually can also lead to a reduction in the secretion of insulin... eat healthy and eat early in the evening," he said.

Nageswaran said health is now treated as a core growth factor. "If you look at the last three economic surveys, we have written about the importance of physical health and mental health also... in determining our growth rate. Because what is growth? It is coming from productivity... How can the labour be productive if it is not mentally and physically healthy?" He noted absenteeism and unproductivity drop when people are healthy, and mental health requires "digital detox."

The CEA called this "hidden growth potential in India's health outcomes." If NFHS-7 shows obesity ratios coming down, "that would automatically contribute to better economic growth." He said Viksit Bharat isn't just factories or semiconductors but "ultimately about human capital. And their health, physical and mental, both play a very important role."

He added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also spoken about this issue in his speeches previously.