The population in India — the world’s second most populated country — grew at 1.2% per year between 2010 and 2019, according to United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) State of the World Population 2018 report.
While India’s figures are marginally higher than the global average of 1.1%, it is double that of China’s 0.5% a year, the report released on Wednesday said. The report further said that the world population in 2019 was 7, 715 million with India registering 1,368.70 million just behind China which has 1,420 million people. The average life expectancy remained at 72 years, while in India it is 69.
According to the report, the highest population growth was in the least developed countries. The average population growth in African countries was 2.7 %.
The report further points out that around half India’s population in 24 states have achieved replacement fertility rates of 2.1 children per women, which is the desired family size when the population stops growing. However, 67% of the country’s population is of the age group 15-64. The large youth bulge will continue to fuel population growth even as the size of the ageing population increases, it said.
“India must prepare for its growing ageing population by understanding the dynamics and riding its demographic dividend by making sure young people are well educated, healthy and contribute to society to help grow the economy and look after elderly going forward,” Klaus Beck, Officer-in-Charge, UNFPA India, was quoted as saying in an HT report.
Copyright © 2024 IE Online Media Services Private Ltd. All Rights Reserved.