India is expected to overtake China as the world’s most populous country with almost 3 million more people by the middle of this year, according to UN figures. The State of World Population 2023 report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates India’s population will be 1.4286 billion by the end of June, compared with China’s 1.4257 billion. The US is a distant third, with an estimated population of 340 million people by the end of June. The data in the report is based on information available up to…
Tag: Population
Why China’s Shrinking Population Is a Problem for Everyone
Despite the rollback of China’s one-child policy, and even after more recent incentives urging families to have more children, China’s population is steadily shrinking — a momentous shift that will soon leave India as the world’s most populous nation and have broad rippling effects both domestically and globally. The change puts China on the same course of both aging and shrinking as many of its neighbors in Asia, but its path will have outsize effects not just on the regional economy, but on the world at large as well. Here’s…
India Is Passing China in Population. Can Its Economy Ever Do the Same?
India’s leaders rarely miss a chance to cheer the nation’s many distinctions, from its status as the world’s largest democracy to its new rank as the world’s fifth-largest economy, after recently surpassing Britain, its former colonial overlord. Even its turn this year as host of the Group of 20 summit is being celebrated as announcing India’s arrival on the global stage. Now, another milestone is approaching, though with no fanfare from Indian officials. The country will soon pass China in population, knocking it from its perch for the first time…
Will This Be the ‘Indian Century’? Four Key Questions
Total population 2023 1.4 billion people Total population 2023 1.4 billion people Source: U.N. World Population Prospects, estimated populations at midyear. It is a turning point the world has not seen in centuries, and is unlikely to see again for centuries more. India is on the cusp of passing China in population, according to the latest U.N. estimates. At 1.428 billion people, India has already edged past mainland China, the data show, and it will soon surpass the mainland and Hong Kong combined. With China’s population declining, the margin between…
Beijing’s population falls for first time since 2003 as China battles low birthrate
Beijing’s population has declined for the first time in almost two decades, new population figures have revealed. In 2022 there were more deaths than births in the Chinese capital, home to more than 21 million people, resulting in a natural population growth of minus 0.05 per 1,000 people. It is the first time the population has gone backwards since 2003. The report by Beijing authorities said the city’s death rate rose to 5.72 deaths per 1,000 people, while the birthrate fell to 5.67 births per 1,000 people. Demographers said the…
Free college and IVF help: China hunts for ways to raise its birthrate
At China’s annual parliamentary meeting this week, proposals to boost China’s falling birthrate have come thick and fast. On Wednesday, the All China Women’s Federation, a state-backed organisation, called for a national publicity campaign to “advocate a positive concept of marriage and childbearing”, through film and television. Other delegates to China’s parliament have called for tax breaks for companies that employ more mothers, opening up maternity insurance to college students, free college education for families who have a third child born after 2024 and allowing unmarried women to access fertility…
China, Needing Babies, Eases Limits on Births
In China, a country that limits most couples to three children, one province is making a bold pitch to try to get its citizens to procreate: have as many babies as you want, even if you are unmarried. The initiative, which came into effect this month, points to the renewed urgency of China’s efforts to spark a baby boom after its population shrank last year for the first time since a national famine in the 1960s. Other efforts are underway — officials in several cities have urged college students to donate…
Can China Reverse Its Population Decline? Just Ask Sweden.
China’s population has begun to decline, a demographic turning point for the country that has global implications. Experts had long anticipated this moment, but it arrived in 2022 several years earlier than expected, prompting hand-wringing among economists over the long-term impacts given the country’s immense economic heft and its role as the world’s manufacturer. With 850,000 fewer births than deaths last year, at least according to the country’s official report, China joined an expanding set of nations with shrinking populations caused by years of falling fertility and often little or…
Chinese province ends ban on unmarried people having children
A Chinese province of more than 80 million people will lift restrictions on unmarried people having children and remove caps on the number of babies as part of a national drive to increase the country’s birth rate. Sichuan’s health commission announced on Monday it would allow all people to register births with the provincial government from 15 February. It will also remove limits on the number of birth registrations for any parent. Until now, the commission had allowed only married couples who wanted to have up to two children to…
Old world – Inside the 27 January Guardian Weekly
It’s an age-old question: how should nations around the world adjust to their elderly societies? Japan has faced such realities for a while now, but the challenges are becoming increasingly common across the developed world where families are getting smaller, and people are living longer. Even India – which will soon overtake China as the world’s most populous country – is now seeing an older demographic become more prevalent in some states. The countries of sub-Saharan Africa, meanwhile, look most likely to enjoy the benefits of a younger population as…