Slowdown puts 1bn middle class at risk

By Shawn Donnan and John Burn-Murdoch in London

Financial Times – April 13, 2014

Almost a billion people in the developing world are at risk of slipping out of the ranks of a nascent middle class, according to FT analysis, raising questions about the durability of the past 30 years’ remarkable march out of poverty.

Rising inequality and slower global growth raise issues for businesses that have been investing heavily in emerging markets.

One of the biggest questions confronting governments is what slower growth will mean for the creation of a solid middle class in countries such as China and India, which many are counting on to drive the global economy in the 21st century.

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