According to estimates from the World Population Review, an independent organisation specializing in census and demographics, India may have already surpassed China as the world’s most populous country, according to a report from Bloomberg.
India’s population was estimated by the organisation to be 1.417 billion as of the end of 2022, just over 5 million more than China’s reported population of 1.412 billion at the time Beijing announced the first decline in population since the 1960s. However, the UN anticipates India will achieve the milestone this year.
According to a different estimate from the research platform Macrotrends, India has 1.428 billion people, according to Bloomberg. India’s population growth has slowed, but according to World Population Review, the country’s population will still grow until at least 2050.
On the other hand, data from the National Statistics Bureau show that China’s population decreased by 850,000 in 2022 when compared to the previous year. According to the United Nations’ estimate, just eight nations—Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Tanzania—will account for more than half of the projected increase in the global population between 2022 and 2050.
Despite China’s strict one-child policy being changed in 2021, the population of the country continued to decline. By preventing families from having more than one child, the policy, which was put into effect in 1980, aimed to lessen the social and economic repercussions of rapid population growth.
It was strictly enforced, and those who disobeyed were subject to fines. Beijing, however, is making an effort to increase its population right now by providing tax breaks, extended maternity leaves, and housing subsidies.
China’s National Health Commission urged the national and provincial governments to increase funding for childcare and reproductive health in August of last year. The state council of China also declared that it is thinking about fresh initiatives to support flexible work schedules and the choice of working from home for parents.