According to a recent report by the World Population Prospects 2022 by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, India is projected to surpass China as the world's most populous country in 2023. Reports projected India to have a population of 1.668 billion in 2050, more than China's 1.317 billion by the middle of this century.

China’s population in 2022 shrank for the first time in over 60 years as the world’s most populous nation sees an ageing society and falling birth rate. Deaths outnumbered births in China as its overall population plummeted by 850,000 people – to 1.4118 billion in 2022, down from 1.4126 billion a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Tuesday.

Analysts have pointed out, the soaring cost of living -- as well as a growing number of women in the workforce and seeking higher education -- as reasons behind the slowdown in China. China’s concern is not simply a declining population, which was accentuated by the decades-old 'one child policy', scrapped in 2016, but also a rapidly ageing population. As per the revised policy, Chinese people can now have up to three children. China conducts a nationwide population census every decade, with the latest being done in 2020.

India is poised to overtake the Communist giant as the world's most populous country in the next few years as per the country's statistics office. According to the organization’s estimated, India's population stood at 1.417 billion as of end 2022, a little over 5 million more than the 1.412 billion reported by China when Beijing announced the first decline in population numbers since the 1960s. Although, the United Nations expects India to reach the milestone later this year.

India certainly has advantages in terms of demographics, in terms of geography, in terms of the infrastructure that exists, much of which has been built in the last few years.

India, where half the population is under the age of 30, is set to be the world’s fastest-growing major economy in the coming years. To make the most of the demographic dividend, Modi needs to create jobs for the millions of people entering the workforce every year as the nation moves away from farm jobs.

The UN estimates that more than half of the projected increase in the global population between 2022 and 2050 to be concentrated in just eight countries: the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania.