INDIA TO BECOME THE WORLD'S MOST POPULOUS COUNTRY

Using prior data from the UN, population experts predicted that India's population would surpass China's this month, but the most recent report from the international body did not include a date. In India, where the most recent census was conducted in 2011, and where the next, scheduled for 2021, was postponed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, UN population officials have stated that it is impossible to determine a date due to uncertainties regarding the data from China and India.

Despite making up more than a third of the projected 8.045 billion world population, both countries' population growth has been declining, but China's has been doing so considerably more quickly than India's. China's population dropped last year for the first time in six decades, a historic development that is predicted to start a protracted phase of population decline with significant effects for the country's economy and the rest of the world.

  According to Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, population benefits depend not just on quantity but also on quality .China has taken aggressive measures to address population ageing, Wang told reporters on Wednesday. "Population is important, but talents are also important," Wang added.

REPORT CENSUS

For the first time in six decades, China's population declined last year. This historic development is likely to signal the beginning of a protracted period of declining citizen numbers, which will have significant effects on China's economy and the rest of the globe .According to government statistics, India's population has grown by an average of 1.2 percent annually since 2011, down from a 10-year average of 1.7 percent .The population of the globe, which is anticipated to reach a peak of roughly 10.4 billion people in the 2080s, is something that the UNFPA admitted was a source of widespread fear .The UNFPA, however, insisted that the emphasis should be on allowing women more autonomy over the timing and mode of childbearing.

  "Can everyone exercise their fundamental human freedom to decide the number and spacing of their children?' is the question. Sadly, the answer is a loud negative, according to Natalia Kanem , head of UNFPA. Nearly half of women, or 44%, are unable to exercise their bodily autonomy.

India had done many things right in tackling population growth, said Poonam Muttreja, an official of the voluntary group Population Foundation of India. "At the same time, we need to make sure that girls and women are not pushed into early marriages and pregnancies, which limit their aspirations," she said in a statement.

WHY CHINA'S POPULATION IS SHRINKING?

China's one-child policy, which for more than 35 years prohibited families from having more than one child, is partially to blame for the population reduction. Women who violated the rule were frequently subjected to forced abortions, large penalties, and eviction.

The government abolished the restriction after becoming concerned about the recent decline in the birth rate. Couples were permitted to have two children in 2015, and this number was increased to three in 2021. But for a variety of reasons, the legislative change and other government initiatives, like providing financial incentives, haven't had much of an impact.Major contributing causes include increasing house prices and high living and educational costs. Many people, particularly in cities, struggle with stagnant earnings, a lack of job prospects, and long work hours that make it difficult and expensive to maintain a standard of living.

HOWEVER,

India has not performed a census since 2011, hence there are no fresh official statistics available on its population size.The once every ten years census in India was scheduled to take place in 2021 but was postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak.