New Delhi (EFE).- The population of India will surpass that of China this year by 2.9 million and will become the most populous country in the world with 1,428.6 million inhabitants, according to data in a report published this Wednesday by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).
This estimate, which refers to the “average during the year”, does not specify when the surprise occurred.
According to the World Population Review center, which estimates population growth projections in real time, today India surpassed the barrier of 1,426 million inhabitants, some 400,000 more than China.
The international organization initially expected this to happen in the middle of this month of April, although the absence of a population census in India since 2011 makes it difficult to assess the accuracy of the projections.
Thus, experts cannot determine exactly the date on which India will officially take the baton.
no census
India prepares a new census every ten years, however, it had to postpone the one scheduled for 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and it will not be completed until 2024, as confirmed by the Indian authorities themselves.
India’s rise to the top of the list of the world’s most populous countries would mark the first time China has been ousted from this position since the UN began keeping records in 1950.
Since that year, the Indian population has grown by more than a billion people, more than the total population of Europe, and continues to rise unlike China, which for the first time in decades has begun to show negative growth.
According to UN estimates, India will continue to maintain positive population growth for decades, a trend that responds to the low average age of this Asian country, where one in four people are under 14 years of age, and to the fertility rate, which Despite having decreased in recent decades, it is two births per mother.
The UN warns that fertility should not be used to achieve demographic objectives
The document published by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), in which the way to fight against the alarmism caused by demography, calls for defending reproductive rights without influencing fertility rates to achieve specific objectives.
The world population reached 8,000 million people last November and for the UN, the fact that India will surpass China’s population for the first time this year dispels some myths about the possible consequences of such a high figure and advocates measures that Generate a change in people’s mentality, empower women and protect their rights.
The UNFPA report refutes some of the beliefs that justify the family planning policies adopted in some countries, such as that too many people are born, it is irresponsible to have children in a world of climatic catastrophes or that a fertility rate must be established.
“Human reproduction is neither the problem nor the solution. When we put gender equality and rights at the center of our population policies, we are stronger, more resilient and better able to deal with the challenges of rapidly changing populations,” said Natalia Kanem, UNFPA Executive Director. .
democratic anxiety
In response to those who think that fertility rates are the cause of evils such as climate catastrophes, famine or pandemics, the UN indicates that reaching 8,000 million people is a sign of progress.
In his opinion, it means that more newborns survive, that more boys and girls go to school, receive health care and reach adulthood.
According to the UN, since the 1950s, the average number of children that women have around the world has been reduced by more than half: from 5 to 2.3, but this does not represent an alarm, rather it shows that people are increasingly exercise more control over their reproductive lives.
Breeding should be a choice
The report stresses that reproduction should be a choice, something that is often not the case.
It indicates, for example, that around 44 percent of women and girls with a partner do not have the freedom to decide about their bodies, that almost half of pregnancies are unintended, and that every year half a million births are to girls between the ages of 10 and 14 years.
He also recalls that 2.1 children per woman is the so-called “replacement” fertility level, that is, the average rate necessary for the population to be maintained, but stresses that this figure should not be taken as a golden rule, as consider it an “erroneous and unattainable objective”.
The document concludes that women’s bodies “should not be subject to decisions made by governments or outsiders.”