India Versus Australia: Comparative Essay

Human well being refers to the quality of life experienced by people individually and collectively. It can be measured using statistics such as life expectancy, educational attainment and income etc. Human Development Index ranks countries into four categories based on the countries life expectancy, education, and per capita income indicators. Australia is one of the many countries who are fortunate enough to be a developed country whereas India is still developing.

Health

Health is the state of being free from illnesses or injuries. Health is based on life expectancy at birth (“A long and healthy life”). Australia and India have completely different health rates. Australia has one of the best health systems in the world that provides affordable and secure health care for all Australians. One of the best health care systems that Australia provides is Medicare, Medicare covers many health care costs, it covers both time in an emergency clinic and visits to your nearby GP. Health insurance pays for health care, it helps you from paying the full cost of the medical service you need. Whereas India’s healthcare system is different to Australia, their health care is different according to where they live between rural and urban areas. They have health insurance that pays for their plan. Rural areas don’t have as good service compared to urban areas in India.

Education

Education is measured as a combination of adult literacy and gross enrollment (“knowledge”). Education in Australia is compulsory between the ages of five or six until the age of 17, depending on the State or territory and date of birth. Australia has so much more to offer like its friendly, laid-back nature, excellent education system and high standard of living, making it a hotspot for international students. Australia is a country of opportunities for career, new culture and adventure. It provides kindergarten, primary school, high school and TAFE or university. In India, public and private schools are provided for the ages of 6 to 14 and they make sure the quality of skills learnt is good so it improves learning levels and skills. India still faces many problems from the lack of sufficient funds, the government has been slow in responding to them. School infrastructure is in a poor state and many school teachers are not properly qualified, with 31% of them not having a degree. 40% of schools are without electricity. Most classrooms in India could hold up to 50-60 students whereas in Australia they usually have 30 students in each class. The expected years of schooling in Australia is 22.9 years while in India it is 12.3 years.

Income

Income is measured by Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (“a decent standard of living”) Income is money that is being received, especially on a regular basis for work or through investments. Income in Australia is a large mixed-market economy, with a gross domestic product of A$1.69 trillion as of 2017. In 2018 Australia became the country with the largest median wealth per adult. While on the other hand India’s per capita income was $1670 per year in 2016 and were also ranked 112th out of 164 countries by the World Bank. Australia has a GDP per capita of $50,300, while in India, the GDP per capita is $7,200. The health of people with quite low incomes often suffer because they can’t afford enough housing, food or childcare. Such living conditions, and the stress caused might lead to higher rates of tobacco and alcohol use and increase the risk of health problems.

Strategies to improve human wellbeing

Human well being refers to the quality of life experienced by people individually and collectively. There are many ways on how to improve with India’s well-being. These include Health, Education and Income. A strategy to help with India’s Health is to increase healthcare spending to 2.5%, this would allow India to have better access to doctors and medicine. Whereas Australia has Medicare, Medicare covers many health care costs, it covers both time in emergency clinic and visits to your nearby GP. This would definitely improve with India’s health. A way to improve India’s education is to send certified teachers there to help with the children’s schooling. The government should also send money to India to help build more professional and tidy classrooms. The classroom environment is one of the most important factors affecting student learning.

Conclusion

To conclude, I definitely believe that India and Australia have very different states of well-being. Australia certainly has a better well being than India this is shown through the HDI ranking of both countries. India on 130 and Australia on 3, this ranking is used to measure a country’s overall achievement in its social and economic dimensions. To sum it up India should improve on their well-being for their country.