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WORLD NEWS Thursday 20 april 2023
U.N. says India to be world’s most populous nation

by mid-2023

By KRUTIKA PATHI
Associated Press
NEW DELHI (AP) — In-
dia is on track to surpass
China by mid-2023 as the
world’s most populous na-
tion, United Nations data
said Wednesday, raising
questions about whether
a booming, young Indian
population will fuel eco-
nomic growth for years to
come or become a liability.
While India’s 254 million
people between ages 15
and 24 is the largest num-
ber in the world, China is
struggling with an aging
population and stagnant
population growth. That
has sparked expectations
that the demographic
changes could pave the
way for India to become Thousands of Hindu devotees take a holy dip on the occasion of Ramnavi festival, celebrated as
an economic and global the birthday of Hindu God Rama, in Ayodhya, India, Thursday, March 30, 2023.
heavyweight. Associated Press
India’s young citizenry people. Not long ago, In- “The Indian survey findings million
could drive the country’s dia wasn’t expected to be- suggest that population India has had a phenom-
economic growth for years come the most populous anxieties have seeped into enal transformation from
to come, but it might just as until later this decade. But large portions of the gen- an impoverished nation
easily become a problem the timing has been sped eral public. Yet, population in 1947 into an emerging
if they aren’t adequately up by a drop in China’s fer- numbers should not trigger global power whose $3 tril-
employed. Economists tility rate, with families hav- anxiety or create alarm,” lion economy is Asia’s third
have cautioned that even ing fewer children. Andrea Wojnar, the United largest. It is a major export-
as India’s economy is India, by contrast, has a Nations Population Fund’s er of things like software
among the fastest-growing much younger population, representative for India, and vaccines, and millions
as its population rises, job- a higher fertility rate, and said in a statement. She have escaped poverty
lessness has also swelled. has seen a decrease in in- added that they should be into a growing, aspiration-
Tech giant Apple, among fant mortality over the last seen as a symbol of prog- al middle class as its high-
other companies, hopes three decades. Still, the ress and development “if skilled sectors have soared.
to turn India into a poten- country’s fertility rate has individual rights and choic- But so has joblessness. Ac-
tial manufacturing hub as been steadily falling, from es are being upheld.” cording to CMIE statistics
it moves some production over five births per woman Many are banking on In- from 2022, only 40% of
out of China, where wages in 1960 to just over two in dia’s rising number of work- working age Indians are
are rising as the working 2020, according to World ing age people to give employed.
age population shrinks. Bank data. it a “demographic divi- Poonam Muttreja, head of
The U.N. report said India The country’s population dend,” or the potential for the Population Foundation
will have about 2.9 million has more than quadrupled economic growth when a of India, agreed, saying the
people more than China since gaining indepen- country’s young popula- country must plan better
sometime in the middle of dence 76 years ago. As tion is eclipses its share of for its young people.
this year. India will have India looks set to become older people who are be- “This large population will
an estimated 1.4286 bil- the world’s largest coun- yond their working years. need a huge investment
lion people versus main- try, it is grappling with the It’s what helped China ce- in skills for them to take ad-
land China’s 1.4257 billion growing threat of climate ment its place as a global vantage of the opportuni-
at that time, according to change, deep inequalities power. ties that will come up in the
U.N. projections. Demogra- between its urban and ru- “So far, we have not been economy for participat-
phers say the limits of popu- ral populations, economic able to tap into our de- ing in jobs. But we have to
lation data make it impos- disparities between its men mographic dividend ade- also create more jobs for
sible to calculate an exact and women, and a widen- quately. While the working them,” she said, adding
date; India has not done a ing religious divide. age population has grown that investments were also
census since 2011. In a survey of 1,007 Indians quite substantially, employ- needed in education.
China has had the world’s conducted by the U.N. in ment has not grown,” said China responded to
largest population since at conjuction with the report, Mahesh Vyas, director of news of the U.N. report
least 1950, the year the U.N. 63% of respondents said the Center for Monitoring on Wednesday with For-
began issuing population economic issues were their the Indian Economy. He eign Ministry spokesperson
data. Both China and India top concern when thinking added that the country Wang Wenbin saying “a
have more than 1.4 billion about population change, has struggled to create ad- country’s demographic
people, and combined followed by worries about ditional employment in the dividend depends not only
they make up more than a the environment, health last six years, with the num- on quantity but also on
third of the world’s 8 billion and human rights. ber of jobs stagnant at 405 quality.” q