INDICA NEWS OFFICE-
India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Sunday that the country’s population growth rate was declining due to education, social awareness and prosperity.
At an event in Gujarat, where he launched the Gujarati translation of his book, “The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World”, he spoke about the Indian population and said: “The growth rate of Indian population is declining. The reason is education, social awareness and prosperity. The family size between each of us, with the passage of time, is small.
Data suggests that since its independence in 1947, India has experienced a significant demographic shift, which combined a population boom after 1951 and also a decline in the total fertility rate.
In 2021, India’s Total Fertility Rate (TFR) fell below the replacement level of fertility (which is 2.1 children per woman) to 2.
“On the positive side,” Jaishankar said, “there have been improvements in various mortality indicators, but there are also some impediments to reaping the demographic dividend in terms of improved living standards, provision of skills and training and job creation”.
According to the United Nations World Population Prospects (WPP) 2022, India will become the most populous country in the world by 2023, surpassing China, with a population of over 1.4 billion. India currently represents 17.5% of the world’s population.
India’s population is expected to reach 1.5 billion by 2030 and 1.66 billion by 2050.
“… Forced population control can have very dangerous consequences, as it can create gender imbalance,” Jaishankar said.