India will soon overtake China as the most populous country in the world. According to estimates by the UN population fund UNFPA, by the middle of the year there will be almost three million more people living in India than in China, according to data from the organization’s current world population report. According to this, India will then have 1.4286 billion inhabitants and China 1.4257 billion. The total world population will then amount to 8.045 billion people.
The UN said that it was not possible to determine the exact date when India will overtake China given the available data. In India, for example, the most recent census was in 2011. A new count was supposed to follow in 2021, but it was postponed.
China: quality of population important
Meanwhile, China emphasized the importance of educating the population over the number of people. Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said to journalists in Beijing: “The population’s dividend depends not only on quantity, but also on quality.” Like the population, it is also important how talented people are.
There are 900 million people of working age who have an average of 10.5 years of education. New workers would even have 14 years, the spokesman emphasized. In response to the aging of Chinese society, China has taken “active measures,” Wang Wenbin said. “Our population dividend hasn’t disappeared. Our talent dividend is forming and giving strong impetus to development.”
China’s population shrank last year for the first time in more than six decades. According to the statistics office, the People’s Republic had only 1.411 billion inhabitants at the end of 2022, around 850,000 fewer than a year earlier. The reasons for this are the misguided “one-child policy” pursued from 1979 to 2016 and the high costs of housing, education and health care. The willingness to marry is also dwindling. India’s population, on the other hand, is likely to continue to grow for the time being.
