Population helps increase economic productivity and growth of India and China

India, which has overtaken China to become the world’s most populous country, still has at least 40 years to slow down the rate of population growth. KS James, director of the International Institute of Population Sciences, says that the way the population rate has stabilised, India will have to wait from the 2060s to the 2070s for the same situation to come. James believes that its reduction will start coming after the year 2063. By then a couple will have a maximum of two children. However, there has also been a generation in the urban areas of India, who are walking with the aim of not having children even after living alone or getting married. Experts believe that this trend can only increase further in the coming days. The reason for this is the change in cultural values ​​and increasing tension regarding economic resources.
In the year 2022, the United Nations had released a report regarding the rate of population. According to which, by the year 2050, the population of India will be more than 167 crores. According to this figure, by the year 2063 it will be more than 169 crore 69 lakh. According to this figure, it will start decreasing in the year 2064 and it will be close to 169 crore 64 lakh. After this, it is expected to decline sharply. According to experts, by the year 2100, there will be a big decline in the population of India, which will be around 152 crores. Presently the population of India is around 142 crores. According to estimates, in the year 2100, this population will be only 100 million more than today’s population. According to experts, the aging rate of the population in the country will increase. Due to which the working population of India will increase. It is believed that the increasing population of India also has its advantages.
Due to increasing population and education, the participation of women in the working population of India is increasing in the last few years. The report of the Periodic Labor Force Survey should also be noted in this regard. According to which, while the proportion of women in the total working population of India was 28.7 percent in 2019-20, it increased to 31.4 percent in the year 2020-21 and 31.7 percent in the year 2021-22. Experts believe that like China, it is possible for India’s economy to get the benefit of increasing share of women in the working population. In January this year, a report of the United Nations came regarding China. According to which, for the first time in China’s 60-year history, the population declined. According to this report, by the year 2022, the population of India was one billion 41 crore 70 lakh, while the population of China was one billion 41 crore 26 lakh. Means less than India. In the same report, it has been said that by the year 2050, the population of China may decline by 1.3 billion.
It is believed that due to this decline, China is going to face shortage of working population. That’s why China has amended the one child policy. It is true that where population beyond a certain limit becomes a cause of challenges for a country, the same population becomes working capital. China has proved it. According to experts, the population is helpful in increasing the economic productivity and progress of any country.
Just as population played a role in making China an economic superpower, similarly if India has remained the fastest growing economy country in the world for the past many years, it is because of the transformation of its population into human resources. According to global firm Morgan Stanley, India has grown at a rate of five and a half percent in the last decade. On the occasion of World Population Day, the population of India and China should be seen from this perspective.
(Senior Indian Journalist-Umesh Chaturvedi)