India overtakes China to become most populous country: UN report
Darpan News Desk IANS, 19 Apr, 2023 03:55 PM
New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) India has overtaken China to become the most populous country in the world, suggests data from a newly released United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report on Wednesday.
According to the UNFPA's The State of World Population Report, 2023, India's population has reached 1,428.6 million while China's stands at 1,425.7 million -- a difference of 2.9 million.
The UN's World Population Prospects 2022 had also projected India to surpass China as the world's most populous country during 2023.
Further, the latest UNFPA report stated that in India 25 per cent of the population constitutes children aged 0-14, 18 per cent are those aged 10-19 years, 26 per cent belong to the 10-24 age group. About 68 per cent are in the 15-64 age category, while those above 65 are just 7 per cent.
On the other hand, China has about 17 per cent of the population under 14 years of age, 12 per cent in the 10-19 age group, 18 per cent in the 10-24 age group.
While 69 per cent are in the 15-64 age category, about 14 per cent or nearly 200 million people are above the age of 65.
However, China is doing better than India in the context of life expectancy, which in the case of women is 82 and 76 that of men. The figures for India are 74 and 71, according to the report.
"The Indian survey findings suggest that population anxieties have seeped into large portions of the general public," Andrea Wojnar, Representative for UNFPA India, said in a statement.
"Yet, population numbers should not trigger anxiety or create alarm. Instead, they should be seen as a symbol of progress, development, and aspirations if individual rights and choices are being upheld," she said.
Meanwhile, the report also highlighted the issues of women's decreased right to bodily autonomy.
The SWOP report noted that 44 per cent of partnered women and girls in 68 reporting countries do not have the right to make informed decisions about their bodies on matters of sex, contraception and seeking health care. Close to 257 million women worldwide have an unmet need for safe, reliable contraception.
"So many women lack control over their bodies, including the right to have children - to decide when they want to have them and how many," said Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director at Population Foundation of India, in a statement.
According to the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (2019-21), India's unmet need for contraception is 9.4 per cent, indicating that even when couples want to adopt a contraceptive method, it is not available to them.
Moreover, early and forced marriages continue to happen - with nearly one out of every four women in India married before they turn 18.A Family and social norms have been pushing women into marriage and motherhood - leaving them without a choice.
"Even as India becomes the most populous country in the world, the programmatic discourse should focus on ensuring that comprehensive and equitable services are available to people regardless of where they live or which strata of society they belong to. At the same time, we need to make sure that girls and women are not pushed into early marriages and pregnancies, which limit their aspirations," Muttreja added.
The UNFPA report recommends that governments must create policies with "gender equality and rights at their heart, such as parental leave programmes, child tax credits, policies that promote gender equality in the workplace, and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights."
In a video message to the farmers, he said several crops were grown on the fertile land but gradually the farmers confined themselves to paddy only. He said this has adversely affected the topography of the state in terms of excessive power consumption, depletion of water table as most of the blocks had gone in extreme dark zones, pollution due burning of stubble and others.
As a mark of protest against the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha, and to press its demand for a probe into the allegations of fraud levelled against the Adani Group, the Congress has launched 'Jai Bharat Satyagraha' across the country against the Centre. The party has set up a war room to monitor the 'Satyagraha', which will culminate in Delhi with a rally.
As per the police, the cover over an old stepwell, around 50 to 60 feet deep, on which devotees were standing to offering their prayers, caved in, due to which around 30 people fell into it. Panic spread as people started crying after seeing their beloved gasping for life in the deep well.
The comprehensive overhaul of the H-1B and L-1 visa programmes will protect American workers and crack down on foreign outsourcing companies, which exploit these visa programs to deprive qualified Americans of high-skilled jobs. The two visa programmes were created to complement America's high-skilled workforce.
During the meeting, the Chief Minister expressed the concern of the state over the proposed water cess on hydropower plants being implemented by the Himachal Pradesh government. Mann said the water cess should not be implemented as it is against the interests of the state.
The police had earlier arrested K. Harish and J. Malathy, who were also directors of the company. Five more people are still at large in the multi-crore cheating case carried out by the company in the state.
