UN revises the date from the earlier 2028 estimate.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: The population of India is slated to exceed that of China’s by 2022, at which point it will become the world’s most populous nation, the United Nations reported Wednesday.
The forecast as of two years ago had India surpassing China by 2028, but the shift in population demographics appears to have sped up its timetable.
In its 2015 revision report, the population division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs said China’s population was now 1.38 billion, compared with 1.31 billion in India. But in seven years, the populations of both are expected to reach 1.4 billion.
Thereafter, the report said, India’s population will grow for decades, to 1.5 billion in 2030 and 1.7 billion in 2050, while China’s is expected to remain fairly constant until the 2030s, when it is expected to slightly decrease.
The findings, released in the United Nations’ Time for Global Action for People and Planet report, were calculated from 2010 national population censuses as well as recent demographic and health surveys.
Wu Hongbo, UN under-secretary-general for economic and social affairs, explained the importance of the report, stating, “Understanding the demographic changes that are likely to unfold over the coming years, as well as the challenges and opportunities that they present for achieving sustainable development, is key to the design and implementation of the new development agenda.”
The report also stated that between 2015 and 2050, half of the growth will be concentrated in India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Indonesia, and Uganda.
According to the Daily Mail, John Wilmoth, director of the population division in the U.N.’s department of economic and social affairs, said that high fertility in some of world’s poorest countries could bring overarching problems with it.
“The concentration of population growth in the poorest countries presents its own set of challenges, making it more difficult to eradicate poverty and inequality, to combat hunger and malnutrition, and to expand educational enrolment and health systems, all of which are crucial to the success of the new sustainable development agenda.”
1 Comment
Every Indian and Foreign corporations should be charged a poverty tax. A child can be housed, fed and clothed for Five Dollars a Day. Counting on 500 million, below the poverty line by 2022, the tax burden, is a drop in the ocean, for the Multi National Corporations who are currently bilking the profits to the tune of Billions of dollars and not paying any taxes in India or their mother countries. They are also taking advantage of the lack of labor laws with no minimum wage laws or if no enforcement of the law if any. The minimum wage has to increase substantially since the current wages by the MNC’s are close to the slave labor wages.