April 19, 2024

India Is The Most Populous Nation On Earth

By Our Editorial Team
First publised on 2023-04-21 08:21:45

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Estimates by the United Nations show that within three months, India is poised replace China as the most populous nation on earth. With 142.86 crore people, India will be marginally ahead of China's 142.57 crore. As China's population is growing at a rate slower than India's (in fact it declined by 0.02% in 2022-23), India is likely to remain on top in population numbers for a long time.

But there is no need to be alarmed about this. Statistics point out that India's population is growing at just 2% which is below the replacement level of 2.1%. If this growth rate does not increase, population will stabilize in a few years and then the start declining. India has been one country which has succeeded in controlling population growth through persuasion, education and to a lesser extent, through empowering women, except for a brief period during the Emergency when forced sterilization was adopted. There is no need to introduce restrictive measures like two-child families for availing welfare schemes or government jobs as China's experience shows these can backfire.

India must instead focus on maximizing the demographic dividend as the percentage of working-age population is high. Nearly 67 percent of the population is in the 15-64 age group. For instance, the participation of women in the workforce was low at 32% in 2005. It declined every year thereafter and post-Covid, it has slid to an alarming 19% in 2021. This has to be reversed. India must educate its youth, skill them and provide them job opportunities. That will propel economic growth.  

Instead of government initiative, as some states have done, to control population through coercive methods, India should focus on educating the girl-child, empowering women and creating opportunities for their increased participation in the workforce. Also, states like UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and Meghalaya which still have a growth rate higher than the national average must work diligently to reduce it. Further, India must invest heavily in healthcare infrastructure as a healthy - both physically and mentally - population can contribute better towards building the nation.