WORLD POPULATION

1.Why in news?

According to un.org : The global population is projected to reach 8 billion on 15 November 2022, and India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023

2.Key Takeaways

• The global population is growing at its slowest rate since 1950, having fallen under 1 per cent in 2020
• The world’s population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050
•  It is projected to reach a peak of around 10.4 billion people during the 2080s and to remain at that level until 2100.

• India is projected to overtake China as the world’s most populous country in 2023 With prospects to reap the demographic dividend as the median age of an Indian this year was 28.7 years, compared to 38.4 for China and 48.6 for Japan against a global value of 30.3 years
• The population prospects report had said that India’s population stands at 1.412 billion in 2022, compared to China’s 1.426 billion
• India is projected to have a population of 1.668 billion in 2050, way ahead of China’s 1.317 billion people by the middle of the century.
• According to UNFPA estimates, 68 per cent of India’s population is between 15-64 years old in 2022, while people aged 65 and above comprise seven per cent of the population
• As per UN estimates, over 27 per cent of the country’s population is between the ages of 15-29 At 253 million, India is also home to the world’s largest adolescent population (10-19 years)
• UNFPA has noted that India has its largest ever adolescent and youth population. According to UNFPA projections, India will continue to have one of the youngest populations in the world till 2030 and is currently experiencing a demographic window of opportunity, a “youth bulge” that will last till 2025

• China, which is weighed down by a rapidly increasing aging population, is projected to enter a “severe aging” phase in 2035 with 400 million people above 60 years, This can be blamed mainly on its decades of one-child policy
• China’s elderly population reached 267 million last year, accounting for 18.9 per cent, It is estimated that the elderly population will top 300 million by 2025 and 400 million by 2035
• The size of China’s senior population and its proportion of the total population is expected to peak around 2050, posing huge challenges to the provision of public services and to the national social security system
• China is rapidly aging, and on the other, its population is in decline due to falling birth rates.
• This is raising concerns over the future availability of a labour force, the main driver of the country’s economic growth
• China’s population grew by less than half a million last year to 1.4126 billion as the birth rate fell for the fifth consecutive year
• China has allowed couples to have three children and even announced incentives for people to have more children