In this article for Mint, Niranjan Rajadhyaksha discusses how China’s lead over India is much larger from the purview of social indicators. Excerpts:

"Let us start with the prevalence of stunting among children below five years. Around a third of Indian children were stunted in 2014; China faced the problem with the same intensity way back in 1990. Less than a tenth of Chinese children below five years fall prey to stunting today.

Consider births attended by skilled health workers. In 2016, 81.4% of births in India were in proper medical centres. This has been an impressive improvement. However, China was at 94% as long back as 1990. 

In Indian cities, 72.01% of the population had access to at least basic sanitation services in 2017. Compare this with the 77.49% of Chinese city dwellers with access to sanitation in 2000, or the 90.79% today.”

Read the full article here.