India’s Population Will Be World’s Largest by Mid-Year: UN
India is on track to become the world’s most populous nation as its young population soars, and will surpass China by mid-2023, according to data released by the United Nations on Wednesday.
The hope is that India’s 254 million people aged between 15 and 24 — the largest number in the world — can help fuel economic growth for years to come. China, meanwhile, is struggling with an ageing population and stagnant population growth, sparking expectations that the demographic changes could pave the way for India to become an economic and global heavyweight.
The U.N. said in a report that India will have about 2.9 million people more than China sometime in the middle of this year. India will have an estimated 1.4286 billion people against mainland China’s 1.4257 billion at that time, according to U.N. projections. Demographers say the limits of population data make it impossible to calculate an exact date.
