UN Report: India To Pass China, Population-wise, By Next Year

According to United Nations (UN) research released on Monday, India will overtake China as the world's most populated country in 2023, with both countries having more than 1.4 billion citizens this year. However, high fertility would pose a barrier to economic progress, Manoj Kumar reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: According to the domestic census, which is done once every ten years, India's population was 1.21 billion in 2011.

According to a report released on World Population Day, the world's population, which is expected to exceed 8 billion by November 15 this year, might expand to 8.5 billion in 2030 and 10.4 billion in 2100 as the rate of mortality lowers.

According to the domestic census, which is done once every ten years, India's population was 1.21 billion in 2011. The government had postponed the census until 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to UN estimates, the world's population is rising at its slowest rate since 1950, and will dip below 1% in 2020. In 2021, the global population's average fertility was 2.3 births per woman over a lifetime, down from over 5 births in 1950.

Global fertility is expected to fall even more, to 2.1 births per woman.

"This is an occasion to celebrate our diversity, recognize our common humanity, and marvel at advancements in health that have extended lifespans and dramatically reduced maternal and child mortality rates," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement.

Nonetheless, he noted that a growing population reminded us of our shared obligation to care for the world and to "reflect on where we still fall short of our commitments to one another."

Referring to an earlier World Health Organization (WHO) report that estimated approximately 14.9 million deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic between January 2020 and December 2021, the UN report stated that global life expectancy at birth fell to 71 years in 2021 from 72.8 years in 2019, owing primarily to the pandemic.

According to the United Nations, eight nations will account for more than half of the predicted rise in world population between now and 2050: Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania, and the Philippines.

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