Senior Indian lawyers earn 54 times the per capita GDP
If we take GDP and divide it by a nation’s population headcount, we have a useful measure with which to assess incomes. A new UK survey has used this method to demonstrate income inequality in India, revealing that senior lawyers in India earn almost 54 times the country's gross domestic product per head of population, compared with 5.4 times in the UK.
The survey is a study of lawyers in the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), and was conducted by recruitment consultancy Laurence Simons.
Across the BRIC countries, senior lawyers earned an average of 23 times the per capita GDP. Following India, the next biggest gap between the earnings of lawyers and per capita GDP is in China, where senior lawyers earn 19.4 times the per capita GDP. Brazil and Russia follow with ratios of 12.7 and 6.8 respectively.
In terms of absolute numbers, the Indian lawyers are earning the least of the BRIC countries, with earnings (including bonuses) of £51,868. At the other end of the scale are the Brazilian lawyers, with average earnings of £93,966.