World Population Prospects 2022: India’s Population Growth Appears To Be Stabilising: United Nations

Source: The post is based on the following articles

“India’s Population Growth Appears To Be Stabilising: United Nations” published in NDTV on 16th November.

“World @ 8 billion, India set to be most populous” published in Indian Express on 15th November 2022.

What is the News?

The Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations has released the World Population Prospects 2022.

According to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the world population touched eight billion on November 15, 2022. India was the largest contributor to the milestone having added 177 million people of the last billion people born in the world.

What are the key findings of the report about India’s population?

-India’s population growth appears to be stabilising. The Total Fertility Rate has declined from 2.2 to 2.0 at the national level.

-A total of 31 states and Union Territories (constituting 69.7 per cent of the country’s population) have achieved fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1.

Reasons for the decline: a) Adoption of modern family planning methods (from 47.8% in 2015-16 to 56.5% in 2019-21), b) Reduction in unmet need for family planning by 4% over the same period and c) Significant improvements in access to family planning related information and services.

All this shows India’s national population policies and health systems are working.

India’s population is a global resource: The UNFPA has said India is a youthful nation with the largest cohort of young people anywhere in the world. India’s “youth bulge” will last till 2025.

Since many parts of the world are ageing, India’s youthful population can be a global resource to solve global problems.

What are the key findings of the report about the global population?

-The world’s population will continue to grow to around 10.4 billion in the 2080s. But, the overall rate of growth is slowing down.

-The world is more demographically diverse than ever before, with countries facing starkly different population trends ranging from growth to decline.

-Population growth has become increasingly concentrated among the world’s poorest countries, most of which are in sub-Saharan Africa.

-As of 2022, more than half the world’s population lives in Asia, China and India being the two most populous countries with more than 1.4 billion people each.

China: China is projected to enter a “severe ageing” phase in 2035 with 400 million people above 60 years. This can be blamed mainly on its decades of the one-child policy.

What are the major recommendations of the report?

To all countries: The world needs to a) invest in each person to achieve a quality of life that allows them to thrive equally and with dignity in the modern world, b) build inclusive societies and sustainable economies, and c) Provide good quality of life to people and lift up and empower most marginalised sections.

To India: The government needs to focus on a) gender equality with the greatest youth generation in history, b) Providing world-class innovation in digital public goods.