India is expected to surpass China to become the world’s most populous country by 2022, according to a United Nations report. But this is not a race that India would want to win, considering its huge unskilled workforce and its struggle to prevent its demographic advantage from turning into a burden.
At a time when the country’s rulers are yet to evolve sound economic policies to ensure higher productivity of its people, such high rates of growth in population would be a disadvantage, according to experts. As is well known, China and India are the two most populous countries in the world. The report, ‘World Population Prospects: The 2015 Revision’, released by the UN, says the current world population of 7.3 billion is expected to touch 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100.
In Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the population will go from having 11-12 per cent of all people aged over 60 years today to more than 25 per cent by 2050, the report adds.
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