India projected to surpass China as world’s most populous country in 2023, says UN

According to a report by the UN, India is projected to surpass China as the world's most populous country during 2023.

India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country during 2023, according to a report by the United Nations on Monday. The report said that half of the projected increase in global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in just eight countries, which includes India.

"India is projected to surpass China as the world's most populous country during 2023,” said the World Population Prospects 2022 by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. The report also mentioned that the world population is projected to reach eight billion on November 15, 2022.

More than half of the projected increase in global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in just eight countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania.

"Disparate population growth rates among the world’s largest countries will change their ranking by size," the UN report said.

In 2022, the two most populous regions were both in Asia: Eastern and South-Eastern Asia with 2.3 billion people (29 per cent of the global population), and Central and Southern Asia with 2.1 billion (26 per cent). China and India, with more than 1.4 billion each, accounted for most of the population in these two regions.

FALL IN GLOBAL LIFE EXPECTANCY DUE TO COVID-19

The report also said that global life expectancy at birth fell to 71 years in 2021, down from 72.8 in 2019, due mostly to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The share of the global population at ages 65 and above is projected to rise from 10 per cent in 2022 to 16 per cent in 2050.

By 2050, the number of persons aged 65 years or over worldwide is projected to be more than twice the number of children under age 5 and about the same as the number of children under age 12.

The report said, "Over the next few decades, migration will be the sole driver of population growth in high-income countries. By contrast, for the foreseeable future, population increase in low-income and lower-middle-income countries will continue to be driven by an excess of births over deaths."

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