India is now the most populous country in the world with 2.9 million more people than China, according to the United Nations Population Fund’s latest data.
According to the UNFP’s latest report, ‘The State of World Population 2023’, titled ‘8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities: The Case for Rights and Choices’, India’s population has surpassed China’s for the first time since 1950, when the UN started collecting demographic data. The report’s ‘Demographic Indicators’ category shows that India’s population is now 1,428.6 million, while China’s is 1,425.7 million, representing a difference of 2.9 million people.
“What we can say is that China’s population reached its peak last year and started to decline and that while India’s population is growing, its rate of population growth has been declining since 1980,” Anna Jefferys, media and crisis communications advisor, UNFPA, said in an email to Hindustan Times.
She said: “… it is unclear exactly when the crossover took place and direct comparisons can be hard due to the slightly different timings of countries’ individual data collection.”
As per the UNFPA report, India’s population is divided into age groups as follows: 25% are aged 0-14, 18% are aged 10-19, 26% are aged 10-24, 68% are aged 15-64, and 7% are aged above 65. On the other hand, in China, 17% are aged 0-14, 12% are aged 10-19, 18% are aged 10-24, 69% are aged 15-64, and 14% are aged above 65, indicating that China has almost 200 million people aged above 65.
The report highlights that China has a better life expectancy than India, with women living up to 82 years and men up to 76 years. In contrast, women in India have a life expectancy of 74 years, while men have a life expectancy of 71 years.
