India To Leave Behind China As Most Populous Country

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India to Leave Behind China as Most Populous Country

India is anticipated to overtake China as the world‘s most populous nation next year, according to a report released by the UN on Monday (July 11). As per the estimate, the world population is anticipated to exceed eight billion people by mid-November 2022. According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs’ Population Division’s World Population Prospects 2022 report, the world’s population is expected to exceed eight billion on November 15, 2022.

After declining by less than 1% in 2020, the pace of population growth worldwide is at its lowest level since 1950. NDTV reported that the world’s population might increase to around 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050, as projected by the UN.

It is predicted that the population would peak at about 10.4 billion people in the 2080s and stay there until 2100. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “This year is a milestone year for World Population Day as we are going to welcome the eighth billionth person to the planet. This is the time to celebrate our diversity, recognise our common humanity, and marvel at advancements in health that have lengthened lifespans and dramatically reduced maternal and child mortality rates.”

At the same time, he continued, “it is an opportunity to reflect on where we still fall short of our obligations to one another and a reminder of our shared responsibility to care for our planet.” In the report it is projected that India is going to surpass China as the most populous country of the world in 2023. In 2022 with 2.3 billion people, the world’s most populous areas were Eastern and South-Eastern Asia that represent 26% of the total world population. With more than 1.4 billion people each in China and India in 2022, these two countries had the biggest populations.

In just eight nations—the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania—will be concentrated more than half of the anticipated increase in world population up to 2050. Different rates of population growth among the world’s top nations will alter their relative sizes, according to the analysis. For instance, India is expected to leave behind China as the most populated nation in 2023.

India would have 1.412 billion people, compared to China’s 1.426 billion in 2022, the research states. As per reports, India is anticipated to have 1.668 billion people by the middle of the century, much above China’s 1.317 billion which would make it the most populated country in the world by 2023.

The rate of population growth dipped below 1% a year in 2020, for the first time since 1950, and the analysis predicted that it will continue to decline over the following several decades and to the end of this century. International migration has increasingly been a significant factor in population change in several regions of the world. Between 2010 and 2021, it is predicted that twelve nations saw a net outflow of more than 1 million migrants.

Temporary labour movements were a major factor in the outflows from several of these nations, including Pakistan (net outflow of 16.5 million from 2010 to 2021), India (-3.5 million), Bangladesh (-2.9 million), Nepal (-1.6 million), and Sri Lanka (-3.5 million) (-1 million). The 46 LDCs(Least Developing Countries) are among the fastest-growing economies in the world. The population of many is expected to double between 2022 and 2050, placing extra strain on resources and making it more difficult to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

According to the UN study, climate change and other global environmental issues that have a direct influence on sustainable development should be taken into account when analysing the link between population and sustainable development. Depending on the issue at hand, the timeline being studied, the technology available, and the demographic, social, and economic context, population increase may not be the direct cause of environmental harm, but it may still worsen the issue or hasten the date of its development.