Desai on India’s population prospects
Faculty Associate Sonalde Desai writing for The Hindu comments on the United Nations 26th revision of the World Population Prospects report. The document predicts that India will overtake China as the most populated country by 2027. What is surprising is the date by which this forecast is expected. In 2015, the United Nations predicted that India would overtake China’s population in 2022, but in the 2019 revision, the projections show that it will happen in 2027 thanks to the fertility decline that according to Desai is, “good news by all counts.”
Such fertility decline is due to the desire of parents to invest in children’s education that is making them stop at one child and limit their family size. Desai concludes that it is time for India to embrace the fact that being the most populous nation is its destiny. Thus, the work in enhancing the lives of its current and future citizens and invest in improving education to ensure the access to good jobs should be a priority.