India set to surpass China as world's most populous nation

By bellecarter // 2023-04-19

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The United Nations (UN) recently projected that India is set to surpass China's population, which has reigned as the most populous country for more than two centuries. The UN noted that this is to take place sometime this year, while many demographers estimate it could happen this month if it hasn't already. India's population is expected to reach 1.429 billion by the end of the year, while China will fall to second place, with 1.426 billion people. Both dwarf the projected end-of-year U.S. population of 340 million. Mathematical calculations from a range of surveys, as well as birth and death records, project that India will overtake China sometime in the middle of April. "It's a crude approximation, a best guess," said Patrick Gerland, chief of the population estimates and projections section of the UN in New York. India's population is expected to peak at nearly 1.7 billion in 2063. By the start of the next century, India's population is expected to be double that of China. "We are on the cusp of maybe the most momentous population transition of the last 200 years," said Irfan Nooruddin, director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. "The center of gravity of where the world is, it's been shifting for a while, but it's about to be cemented." India's most populous city is the capital New Delhi, with some 30 million inhabitants across its central city and its surrounding urbanized areas. If Delhi were a country, it would be the 50th most populous country in the world. Meanwhile, China's aging population had stagnant growth even after the government retreated from a one-child policy. Two years ago, China allowed couples to have up to three children. Also, its labor force is getting smaller with a growing pool of retirees who need pension payments and healthcare. About 203 million people, or 14.3 percent of China's population this year, are 65 and older – up from 87.5 million in 2000. (Related: Yale professor suggests mass suicide for the elderly to address Japan's population issues.) Meanwhile, India has had a much younger population and a decrease in infant mortality over the last three decades. Dudley Poston, Jr., an emeritus professor of sociology at Texas A&M University, said the country has more babies born each year than any other country. China, like many European countries, have more deaths than births in recent years.

India expected to become world's third-largest economy before end of decade

India recently overtook Britain as the world's fifth-largest economy and could leapfrog Germany and Japan to become the third-largest behind the U.S. and China in 2029, according to a State Bank of India report. Its mobile payment system has also sparked a boom in digital payments. Some economists predict that India's gross domestic product will more than double to $8.5 trillion from $3.4 trillion over the next 10 years. Some U.S. companies are starting to invest in India. Apple Inc.'s Foxconn Technology Group is considering a major expansion in India. Despite the promise of more employment and development due to its growing population, family planning advocates are targeting India. According to France24, fertility rates in India have been falling. Back in 1964, women had six children on average, but now they have closer to two due to family planning service. "The primary goal was to slow population growth as a means of supporting the economic development of the country, which was only a few years old at that point," said Anita Raj, director of the Center for Gender Equity and Health, University of California at San Diego. And the drive was deemed successful as almost 100 percent of married women and men aged 15-49 are aware of at least one method of contraception. The public health sector provides 68 percent of people with modern contraceptives. Now, the efforts of the Indian government are slowing population growth at an increasingly rapid rate. "We would hope to see a situation in which all pregnancies are wanted and that people have the capacity to make a choice [to get pregnant], If that were the case, then we would see a lower fertility rate in India," said Alistair Currie, campaign manager from Population Matters, a U.K.-based charity that addresses population size. Watch the video below where best-selling author Jim Marrs talks about the overpopulation fallacy. This video is from the Crazy Pablo channel on Brighteon.com.

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India expected to become world's third-largest economy before end of decade

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