West News Wire: According to United Nations figures, India is on its way to become the world’s most populated country, surpassing China with about three million more people in the middle of this year.
According to demographic data issued on Wednesday by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), India’s population is 1.4286 billion, while China’s population is 1.4257 billion.
According to the UNFPA’s State of World Population Report, 2023, the United States ranks third, with an anticipated population of 340 million.
According to the estimate, eight nations will account for half of world population increase by 2050: the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania.
The information in the data is current as of February 2023, the report said.
Population experts using previous data from the UN have projected India would go past China this month. But the latest report from the global body did not specify a date for when the change would take place.
UN population officials have said it was not possible to specify a date due to “uncertainty” about the data coming out of India and China, especially since India’s last census was conducted in 2011 and the next one due in 2021 has been delayed due to the pandemic.
Although India and China will account for more than one-third of the estimated global population of 8.045 billion, the population growth in both Asian giants has been slowing, at a much faster pace in China than in India.
Last year, China’s population fell for the first time in six decades, a historic turn that is expected to mark the start of a long period of decline in its citizen numbers with profound implications for its economy and the world.
India’s annual population growth has averaged 1.2 percent since 2011, compared with 1.7 percent in the 10 years previously, according to government data.
