The Global Middle Class: How Multinationals Can Capitalize on the Emerging Middle Class in China and India

The buying power of the middle class has long been used as a way to measure the prosperity of nations, as a strong and healthy middle class population can provide many of the drivers necessary for economic growth in terms of both physical and human capital (Kharas, 2010).  However, while much of the attention on the middle class and the ways in which it influences the global economy has tended to focus on G7 nations, economic growth in emerging nations has created a new global middle class whose needs are much different from their European and North American middle class predecessors (Kharas, 2011).  India and China are two key players in this new global middle class, presenting substantial opportunities for multinationals with well-developed strategies designed to capitalize upon the increased, and often untapped, buying power of middle class consumers.