Environment

India’s population to exceed China’s by 2.9 million by 2023: UN

New Delhi, Apr 19 (EFE).- India’s population is set to exceed China’s by 2.9 million this year, making it the most populous country in the world with 1,428.6 million inhabitants, according to a report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Wednesday.

However, the UN has not specified whether India has already overtaken China as the world’s most populated nation.

The international body expected this to happen around mid-April, but the absence of a population census in India since 2011 has made it difficult to assess the accuracy of its predictions.

India prepares a new census every ten years, however it had to postpone the one due in 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, and it will not be completed until 2024, according to the Indian authorities.

So far, China has been the world’s most populated nation since the UN began keeping records in 1950.

Since that year, India’s population has grown by over a billion people – more than Europe’s total population – and continues to rise, unlike China, which for the first time in decades has begun to show negative growth.

According to UN estimates, India will continue to witness population growth for decades, and cross 1.5 billion people by 2030 and 1.7 billion by 2064.

One in four people are under 14 years of age in the south Asian country, also has a high fertility rate of two births per mother, according to the UNFPA report. EFE

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