GNP growth rates in developing countries are on average higher than those in developed countries. Moreover, the difference became even larger in recent years because GNP growth in developed countries slowed from more than 3 percent a year in the 1980s to about 2 percent a year in the first half of the 1990s. Low-income countries appear to have performed much better during this period, with GNP growing by almost 6 percent a year between 1980–1995. So, the way it looks, the poor countries have a good chance of catching up with the rich countries. Between the years of 1980-1985, GNP per capita grew by about 3.2 percent a year in India and in China by an remarkable 8.3 percent a year. Rapid growth in China and India explains why more than half of the world's population lives in economies
growing faster than 2 percent a year.
In 1978 the economical structure of China began moving from a slow Soviet type economy to more of a market oriented system.
Somewhere around 80 to 120 million surplus rural workers are unsettled between the villages and the cities, many subsisting through part-time low paying jobs. Several things have weakened China's population control program including popular resistance, changes in central policy, and loss of authority by rural cadres which is vital to maintain long term growth in living standards. Another long term threat to growth is the deterioration in the environment, especially air pollution, soil erosion, and the steady fall of the water table specifically in the north. China continues to lose farmable land because of erosion and various economic development. Beijing will intensify efforts to stimulate growth through spending on infrastructure, such as better water control and better power grids, poverty relief, and through rural tax reform. Access to the World Trade Organization strengthens China's ability to maintain sturdy growth rates, and at the same time puts add
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