Darsen is a dry country where irrigated agriculture accounts for a large share of output. Its government plans to give firms grants to develop and buy water-efficient machinery and to retrain agricultural workers to operate the new capital. Independent forecasts for the sixth year of the plan are shown in the table. All index numbers use the year before the plan as the base year.
| Indicator | Year before the plan | Forecast sixth year |
|---|---|---|
| Real GDP index | 100 | 116 |
| Population index | 100 | 107 |
| Output per agricultural worker index | 100 | 124 |
| Annual freshwater extraction as a percentage of natural replenishment | 86% | 103% |
| Greenhouse gas emissions index | 100 | 97 |
| Share of total income received by the lowest 40% of households | 18% | 16% |
A freshwater extraction figure above 100% means that water is being used faster than it is naturally replenished.
Evaluate how sustainable Darsen's forecast economic growth appears, using evidence from the table.
78 exam-style questions on OCR GCSE Economics 3.1 Economic growth, covering 3.1.1 What is economic growth, 3.1.2 Calculate economic growth using GDP, 3.1.3 Explain how growth is measured, 3.1.4 Analyse GDP data, 3.1.5 Determinants of economic growth, and 3.1.6 Costs and benefits of economic growth. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.