United Nations (UN) World Population Prospects 2022

About:

• The world population touched eight billion on November 15, 2022 and India was the largest contributor to the milestone, having added 177 million people of the last billion people born in the world.
• The UN population report said 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 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:

• 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:

• China added 73 million people; the projection is that its contribution to the next billion in the global population will be in the negative.
• China, which is weighed down by a rapidly increasing ageing population, is projected to enter a “severe ageing” phase in 2035 with 400 million people above 60 years. This can be blamed mainly on its decades of one-child policy.
• China’s population grew by less than half a million-last year to 1.4126 billion as the birth rates fell for the fifth consecutive year.
• Since last year, China has allowed couples to have three children and even announced incentives for people to have more children.