India will overtake China as the world’s most populous country by mid-2023, according to new data released by the United Nations on Wednesday.
Data published in the United Nations ‘State of the World Population Report,’ predicts that India’s population will reach 1.4286 billion this year, 2.9 million more than China’s estimated population of 1.4257 billion.
In a distant third place is the United States, which would have an estimated population of 340 million.
China and India have long been the two countries with the largest populations, but China’s population is set to decline in 2022 for the first time in more than 60 years. reuters informed of. While population growth is declining in both countries, China is declining much faster than India, paving the way for the latter to surpass its neighbour.
The new UN estimate marks a dramatic leap in the timeline for India to take the crown from China. Not a few years ago India was predicted to become the most populous country in the world by the end of 2020. The Associated Press noted, but “the decline in China’s fertility rate has been compounded over time, with families having fewer children.” India, on the other hand, “has a small population, a high fertility rate, and has seen a decrease in infant mortality over the last three decades.”
However, India has not conducted a decennial census since 2011, as the 2021 census was postponed due to COVID-19. As a result, UN officials acknowledged that this new data was a loose forecast, and could change at any time.
Patrick Gerland, the UN chief of population estimates and projections, said “any specific numbers about India’s population” are naive assumptions based on fragmentary information. BBC News“We don’t have actual official data coming from India,” he said.
