According to the World Population Prospects 2019 India is set to overtake China as the most populous country by 2027 and will have almost 1.64 billion inhabitants by 2050.
As per the report:
- Globally, people aged above 65 are the fastest growing age group, putting pressure on social protection systems as the proportion of the working-age population shrinks.
- India is expected to add 273 million people by 2050, which will be the largest national increase in the world.
China is expected to become smaller, dropping from its current 1.43 billion people to approximately 1.4 billion by 2050. - India may have the highest absolute increase in numbers, its rate of growth is slowing.
- The Central and the Southern Asia region (including India) is expected to see a 25% increase in population between now and 2050.
- The rate of population growth is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, where the fertility rate stand at 4.6 births per woman over a lifetime.
- Nigeria is expected to add 200 million people over the next three decades and overtake the U.S. to become the third most populous country in the world.
- India is still among the countries where the working-age population (25-64 years) is growing faster than other groups, creating an opportunity for accelerated economic growth.
But the “demographic dividend” will peak by 2047 in the region. - Globally, By 2050, one in six people will be above 65, compared with one in 11 people in 2019.
In 2018, for the first time in the world, people above 65 outnumbered children under five years of age. - By 2050, the number of people over 80 is expected to triple to 426 million.
- By 2050, almost 50 countries are expected to have less than two working-age people to support every person above 65.
