Population: India Set to Surpass China in 2023 Says UN

India-West News Desk

NEW YORK, NY – The global population is projected to reach 8 billion on November 15, with India projected to surpass China as the most populous country in 2023, the UN said on July 11 on World Population Day.

“It is a reminder of our shared responsibility to care for our planet and a moment to reflect on where we still fall short of our commitments to one another,” said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The growth rate is at its slowest since 1950, having fallen under 1 percent in 2020, according to the World Population Prospects 2022.

The world’s population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050 and peak at around 10.4 billion during the 2080s.

But the population of the world is expanding unevenly.

More than half of the projected increase up to 2050 will be concentrated in eight countries: Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania, it added.

With one of the lowest fertility rates in the world (at 1.15 children per woman), China has announced that its population is due to start declining next year – much earlier than previously thought. That is despite the country abandoning its one child policy in 2016 and introducing incentives for couples to have two or more children, the BBC reported.

As India’s population continues to grow it will almost certainly overtake China as the country with the biggest population in the world.