Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

2 min read
17 November 2022 | 09:30 CAT

India is set to surpass China as the most populous country as early as 2023, after each country accounted for approximately 1.4 billion people. With the world population reaching 8 billion people.

This was revealed in a statement by the United Nations (UN) projections saying that this is a “milestone in human development”.

Photo credit: New York Times

In a statement, the UN indicates that over the past 12 years, 1 billion people have been added to the global population.

Based on the statical analysis, middle-income countries, mostly in Asia, accounted for most of the growth over the past decade, adding approximately 700 million people since 2011.

While two-thirds of women, on average, have about two children, down from five kids on average in 1950. The population foundation of India’s Poonam Matterjie says that the lack of healthcare has played a role in India’s population.

“If you don’t have all that, it leads to diminishing returns in terms of the economy, but it will lead to social strife and frustration – you can’t have an unhappy large 350 million as our youth population,” says Matterjie.

As the global population reaches new highs, demographers are noting the growth rate has fallen steadily to less than 1% per year. With the UN projecting that the global population will peak at around 10.4 billion people in the 2080s and remain at that level until 2100.

Meanwhile, experts warn that having more people on Earth puts more pressure on nature as people compete with wildlife for water, food and space.

It is impossible to know precisely how many people are alive at any moment. The UN’s figures are based on models designed using census and other demographic data.