By the middle of this year, according to figures made public by the UN, India will surpass China as the world’s most populated nation.
India’s population is projected to be 1.4286 billion, which is 2.9 million greater than its neighbor China, which has a population of 1.4257 billion.
Over the past 70 years, the population of the Asian countries has made up more than a third of the world’s total.
China’s population shrank last year for the first time since 1961, contributing to a recent decline in birth rates.
Since there hasn’t been a census in India since 2011, the population forecast in the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) State of the World Population report is an estimate.
The population of China’s two Special Administrative Regions, Hong Kong and Macau, as well as Taiwan, which Beijing views as a breakaway province to be united with the mainland at some point, is not included in the UN’s estimate, according to the organization. As a sovereign state with a democratically elected government and its own constitution, Taiwan views itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland.
The world population surpassed 8 billion people in November. But according to analysts, growth is currently occurring at its slowest rate since 1950 and is not as quick as it once was.
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The fertility rates in China and India have also decreased. This means that even if China abandoned its one-child policy in 2016 and introduced incentives for couples to have two or more children, the population will begin to decline in that country the following year.
Other reasons cited for the slowdown in China include rising living costs and the rise in the number of women entering the workforce.
Fertility rates have decreased significantly in India as well in recent years, from 5.7 births per woman in 1950 to 2.2 births per woman now.
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According to a UNFPA-commissioned survey, the majority of Indians believed their population was too enormous and their fertility rates were too high. Nearly two out of three respondents cited economic concerns as their top worries when considering population expansion.
Demographers advise against giving in to worries about the expanding numbers, though, and claim that India’s population surpassing China’s shouldn’t be taken as a cause for alarm.
If individual rights and preferences are honored, they should be viewed as a symbol of progress, development, and aspirations, the UN report states.
