Despite talk of a slowdown, China’s progress remains steady. They’re still surpassing 20 countries every 5 years, putting them on track to meet their 2049 goal of rivaling developed giants like the US, Japan, and the EU.

According to recent data from a report, China’s Human Development Index is currently at 0.788, which suggests that they are on track to cross the threshold for Very High development (0.800) by the year 2025, more than doubling the population of humans living in Very Highly developed countries.

The UN report highlights a global slowdown, with much of the world falling behind. Notably, China has significantly outpaced India, its closest competitor in terms of population and size.

This sheds light on the debate about development models. Supporters of liberal-democratic capitalism might struggle to explain why this approach hasn’t delivered similar success in India compared to China and Vietnam, two countries seen as more successful development models.