India has become the world’s most populous country, overtaking China. The latest data from the United Nations has revealed that India’s population is now 142.86 crore, compared to China’s 142.57 crore.

With this development India has for the first time ranked at the top of the UN’s list of most populous countries since the organisation began collecting population data in 1950.

The United States came next as a distant third with an estimated population of 340 million.

Although India and China together make up over one-third of the estimated global population of 8.045 billion, the rate of growth in these two countries has been slow. 

China’s population, in particular, has been decreasing rapidly as the country marked last year as the first time in six decades that it fell, a development expected to have significant economic and global consequences.

In contrast, India’s annual population growth has averaged 1.2 per cent since 2011, a slower pace than the 1.7 per cent average of the previous decade, according to government statistics.

The Indian government had planned to conduct a census in 2021, but this has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: The Statesman

BDST: 1612 HRS, APRIL 19, 2023
MN