- India is expected to overtake China as the world's most populous country
- India has not had the same rapid growth in industry and infrastructure
- Both countries are facing issues
According to the most recent United Nations figures, India has surpassed China to become the world's most populous country.
When China lost its brand, it geared itself for below-the-belt strikes on India. China has recently made disparaging statements about India and its expanding population.
India to Surpass China's Population
"Size counts, but talent source is more important," stated China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman. China has descended to such lows that it has begun to make racist slurs against India. Yet, the international community has accused China of spreading the "quality sickness" Wuhan virus.
India's economic prospects are favorable because the country is home to one-fifth of the world's youth population. Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke on India's young population at Madison Square.
Faced with a demographic problem threatening the government's attempt to challenge the United States, Chinese authorities and state media reacted angrily to Western coverage of new data showing India overtaking mainland China by the middle of this year, if not sooner.
According to the United Nations Global Population Dashboard, each will have almost 1.43 billion people - more than a third of the planet's population of 8 billion or more.
The nuclear-armed neighbors are involved in a conflict involving huge force buildups along their mountainous, 2,000-mile-plus border and skirmishes, including melees with clubs, sticks, and stones. The population ranking made news all around the world. Yet, prominent Chinese voices accused the West of exploiting the incident to "bad mouth" Beijing as the latest chapter in a long-running conflict with the US and its allies.
According to Chinese authorities and state media, America and the West are primarily concerned with population numbers, rather than education, industrial production, and economic clout, with China dwarfing India several times over. Wang Wenbin, a China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, emphasized the need to "look at not just the quantity, but also the quality of its population."
Notwithstanding the disparity in population, China is significantly wealthier than India. With economic liberalization in the 1970s, its economy grew to become the world's second-biggest, trailing only the United States, with a gross domestic output about seven times that of India, ranked fifth.
Both countries are facing unique issues. China's elderly population declined last year for the first time in six decades, after years of exponential growth, as per NBC News. This raises severe concerns about the ability of this behemoth, on which the global economy has grown to sustain and improve its economic standing. China's now-defunct one-child policy attempted to limit the country's population growth.
It is now frantically attempting to halt a declining birthrate, which implies that, like in many Western countries, a dwindling youthful population will struggle to sustain an increasing number of pensioners. It is what has slowed the growth of neighboring Japan, although it is already a high-income country.
India, on the other hand, has had further rapid growth in industry and infrastructure. The population is younger, yet many are unemployed or impoverished. According to official statistics, just 2.2% of workers between 15 and 59 have obtained formal vocational training. In China, 26% of the workforce is considered "skilled."
Despite a thriving technological sector, India's massive population has made it difficult to produce enough employment to meet demand. A study undertaken by the United Nations in connection with this week's report indicated that many Indians prioritized economic concerns over environmental, health, and human rights concerns when considering population change.
According to Andrea Wojnar, the United Nations Population Fund's representative for India, the findings indicate that "population worries have penetrated substantial segments of the general public," even though the figures should be viewed as a sign of development rather than a reason for concern. If China is anxious about losing the top rank, India does not appear enthusiastic about reclaiming it.
World's Most Populous Country: Is the Title Beneficial?
According to The New York Times, China's aged population declined for the first time in six decades last year, a "hangover" from the country's decades-long one-child policy. It is anticipated to continue decreasing and end the century at less than half its present level.
The population of India is expected to expand for decades. Since 2011, it has climbed by 1.2 percent every year on average. This was a decrease from 1.7 percent during the previous decade. India has surpassed the United Kingdom, its former colonizing power, to become the world's fifth-largest economy.
Global corporations see it as a massive market - Apple recently opened its first store in the country to sell more iPhones - and a manufacturing powerhouse that provides an alternative to China after that country's COVID lockdowns disrupted supply chains that were overly reliant on its goods.
Several prominent commercial and political leaders consider India's growing population a boon that will boost its finances and expand its worldwide political and economic dominance.
India's demographic shifts propel the world's second-greatest rural-to-urban migration as millions flee to cities for jobs. In Mumbai's financial district, police wielding batons recently had to calm crowds as 650,000 candidates sought one of 8,000 available posts on the police force.
"Experts say India's new position underscores its demographic dividend as the country with the youngest workers," the BBC reports, "but also its biggest challenge: providing enough employment for them."
According to Andres Oppenheimer of The Miami Herald, Prime Minister Narendra Modi "gets great honors for helping modernize India's economy," but his "increasing misuse of power" might derail everything. Modi is "increasingly bullying independent media and has utilized a subservient judiciary to ban opposition figures," according to the report.
A court recently expelled Modi's primary political challenger, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, for joking about Modi having the same surname as two criminals in the news. Modi's excesses are "dangerous" since "unlike in China, India's recent success has been aided partly by democratic stability."
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