India will be the most populous country in the world by the end of April, ahead of China

BUILD À DAY

India will be the most populous country in the world by the end of April, overtaking China to reach more than 1.425 billion people, according to an estimate by an agency of the UN made public on Monday.

“China will soon cede its long held place as the world's most populous country. By the end of this month, India's population is expected to reach 1,425,775,850, equaling and then surpassing the population of mainland China,” according to a statement from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in New York. .

On April 19, a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report on the state of the world's population estimated India's population to be 1.4286 billion. compared to 1.4257 billion for China, by mid-2023.

“China's population peaked at 1.426 billion in 2022 and has started to decline. Projections indicate that the size of the Chinese population could fall below one billion (inhabitants) by the end of the century (while) the Indian population should continue to grow for several decades,” the statement added.

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According to official data released earlier this year, China's population fell last year for the first time since 1960-1961, after a famine that began in 1959 left tens of millions dead in the following the “Great Leap Forward”.

Paradoxically, this population decline in China is occurring despite the relaxation of the birth control policy in recent years.

There ten years ago, the Chinese were only allowed to have one child. Since 2021, they can have three.

This decline is generally attributed to the cost of living which has risen sharply in China, as has the cost of raising a child. The higher level of education of women also delays pregnancies.

As for India, the country does not have any official data on the number of its inhabitants, since it has not carried out census since 2011.

India's census, which only takes place once a decade, was supposed to take place in 2021 but had to be delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic .

Logistical obstacles and political reluctance now prevent it from taking place, and it is unlikely that this large-scale exercise will take place anytime soon.

The Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is accused by his critics of deliberately delaying the census so as not to release data on sensitive issues like unemployment before next year's national elections.

The Indian economy struggles to provide jobs for the millions of young people entering the labor market every year. Half of the South Asian giant's population is under 30.