India is set to overtake China as the world’s most populous country, but that’s got the UN worried about uneven population growth
India is on track to become the world’s most populous country next year, overtaking China.
According to the UN, the planet will be home to 8 billion people by November.
India will reach the milestone of 1.4 billion people, overtaking China.
But population growth has slowed down, according to the figures.
It is now at its slowest rate since 1950 and is set to peak around the 2080s at about 10.4bn
The UN warns that population growth is expanding unevenly, with more than half the growth happening in just eight countries.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania.
It comes as some of the world’s most developed economies are already seeing population decline as fertility rates fall below 2.1 children per woman.
India vs. China
With one of the lowest fertility rates in the world, China has announced that its population is due to start declining next year.
That’s much earlier than first thought.
It even comes after the country abandoned its controversial one child policy in 2016 and introduced incentives for couples to have two or more children.
As India’s population continues to grow it will almost certainly overtake China as the country with the biggest population in the world.
Fertility rates are falling globally – even in many of the countries where the population is expanding.
