Inclusive Growth: Definition

Inclusive growth has been defined differently by different organizations and scholars. The dictionary meaning of the term “inclusive” is “comprehensive”, “including all extremes” and “not excluding any section of the society”.

UNDP has defined inclusive growth as “the process and the outcome where all groups of people have participated in growth and have benefited equitably from it”. This implies that inclusive growth should include all sections as beneficiaries as well as partners in growth and that inclusion of the excluded should be embodied in the growth process.

Basely et el (2007) defined inclusive growth as the “growth that has a high elasticity of poverty reduction”, i.e.  it should have a higher reduction in poverty per unit of growth.

In summary, Inclusive growth is the growth that reduces disparities among per capita incomes in agriculture and non-agriculture, in rural and urban areas, and in different socio-economic groups, particularly between men and women and among different ethnic groups. The result of inclusive growth is reduction in vertical inequalities (individual inequalities) and horizontal inequalities (group inequalities).