Data | Uneven progress in Karnataka: Bengaluru, Mysuru regions way ahead of Kalaburagi and Belagavi Premium

While Karnataka’s GDP has grown, it has not translated into better outcomes in education and health

Karnataka’s economic performance was the best among all the major States in 2020-21. If the per capita net State domestic product (current prices) is used as a measure of a State’s economic performance, Karnataka ranked first among all the major States that year.

While the State’s per capita GDP has improved by leaps and bounds over the years, this growth has not translated into better outcomes in education, health, and sanitation. Karnataka, in general, featured at the bottom half among States on many social indicators. For instance, 35.4% of children were stunted (low height-for-age) in 2019-21 in the State. On this parameter, Karnataka’s rank was 24 out of 30 States, three spots lower than what it was in 2015-16. The share of women aged 20-24 years who got married before turning 18 was 21.3% in 2019-21 compared to 21.4% in 2015-16. On this indicator, Karnataka ranked 19 out of 30 States in 2019-21 and 18 out of 30 in 2015-16. On most of the social indicators analysed, its ranking worsened between 2015-16 and 2019-21. More worrying is the fact that there are significant inter-district disparities. While it is true that social development is limited, even that is restricted to certain pockets of the State.

Chart 1 | The chart shows the per capita net district income (in ₹) for 2021-22. 

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There is a huge difference between the income levels of richer districts such as Bengaluru Rural and Bengaluru Urban in the Bengaluru region and Chikkamagaluru, Dakshina Kannada, and Udupi in the Mysuru region when compared to poorer districts such as Bidar and Koppal in the Kalaburagi region and Haveri and Vijayapura in the Belagavi region. While the per capita income of richer districts crossed ₹3 lakh, it did not cross ₹1.5 lakh in the poorer districts mentioned above.

Chart 2 | The chart shows the district-wise HDI (0: worst, 1: best) in 2022.

This trend of districts in the Mysuru and Bengaluru regions performing well and Belagavi and Kalaburagi lagging behind can be observed in most parameters, reflected in the Human Development Index (HDI).