{"id":321525,"date":"2024-12-17T21:30:57","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T16:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=321525"},"modified":"2024-12-28T21:36:19","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T16:06:19","slug":"indias-demographic-advantage-and-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indias-demographic-advantage-and-challenges\/","title":{"rendered":"India&#8217;s Demographic Advantage and Challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Source: <\/strong>This article on <strong>India&#8217;s Demographic Advantage and Challenges\u00a0 <\/strong>is based on article<strong> \u201c India\u2019s asset-less, ageing population with poor health is a crisis in the making\u201d <\/strong>published in <strong>The Indian Express<\/strong> on<strong> 17<sup>th<\/sup> December 2024. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS 3-\u00a0 Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Context: <\/strong>The article critically examines India&#8217;s demographic situation, highlighting the gap between its potential demographic dividend and the challenges hindering its realization. India, currently at its demographic prime, has a substantial proportion of its population in the working-age group (15-59 years), which will continue for the next few decades. However, the article underscores that demographic advantage alone is not sufficient unless accompanied by the right policies and investments to ensure high productivity, education, skills, and health.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is India\u2019s demographic status, and what are the key challenges?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>India is in its demographic prime, with <strong>3%<\/strong> of its population aged <strong>15-59 years<\/strong>, a unique advantage expected to last for three more decades.<\/li>\n<li>By 2030, India will have the <strong>largest workforce<\/strong> in the world, but this can only translate into economic growth if supported by <strong>proper education, skills, and health<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>However, current challenges include:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Education<\/strong>: Only <strong>41% of women<\/strong> and <strong>2% of men<\/strong> (15-49 years) have 10+ years of schooling.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Health<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Anaemia<\/strong>: 57% of women and 25% of men are anaemic.<\/li>\n<li><strong>BMI<\/strong>: 18.7% of women and 16.2% of men have a BMI below normal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Learning Outcomes<\/strong>: Among adolescents, only <strong>77%<\/strong> of 17-18-year-olds can read a Class 2 textbook, and just <strong>35%<\/strong> can perform division.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>How do nutrition and health issues among children impact India\u2019s future workforce?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Under-5 Health<\/strong>:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Stunting<\/strong>: 35.5% are stunted.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Wasting<\/strong>: 19.3% are wasted.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Underweight<\/strong>: 32.1% are underweight.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anaemia<\/strong>: 67.1% of children (6-59 months) are anaemic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Diet<\/strong>: Only <strong>3% of children under two years<\/strong> receive a minimal adequate diet. Poor nutrition hinders <strong>90% brain development<\/strong>, which occurs before age five, affecting future cognitive abilities.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><strong>What is the risk of an ageing population post-2030?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>After 2030, India will start <strong>ageing<\/strong>, with the workforce shrinking and the elderly population rising.<\/li>\n<li>Without intervention, India risks a <strong>large, asset-less, ageing population in poor health<\/strong>, creating economic burdens rather than growth opportunities.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2><strong>What urgent steps must India take to harness its demographic dividend?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Conduct a <strong>real-time analysis<\/strong> of the demographic situation.<\/li>\n<li>Redesign policy frameworks to strengthen:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Nutrition<\/strong>: Ensure minimal adequate diets for children.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Healthcare<\/strong>: Address anaemia, undernutrition, and physical health gaps.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Education<\/strong>: Improve learning outcomes, especially foundational skills like reading and arithmetic.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>A strong foundation of <strong>nutrition, health, and education<\/strong> across the life cycle is critical to ensure India\u2019s demographic dividend can capitalize on future economic opportunities and avoid becoming a burden.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source: This article on India&#8217;s Demographic Advantage and Challenges\u00a0 is based on article \u201c India\u2019s asset-less, ageing population with poor health is a crisis in the making\u201d published in The Indian Express on 17th December 2024. UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS 3-\u00a0 Indian Economy and issues relating to Planning, Mobilization of Resources, Growth, Development and Employment\u00a0&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indias-demographic-advantage-and-challenges\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">India&#8217;s Demographic Advantage and Challenges<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230],"tags":[216,8184,10500],"class_list":["post-321525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-indian-economy","tag-indian-express","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321525\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}