China has been the world’s most populous country for hundreds of years.  However, this is going to change as India is set to overtake China to become the world's most populous nation in the world by the middle of this year, according to data released by the United Nations.

India's population is pegged to reach 1.4286 billion against China's 1.4257 billion, the United Nations Population Fund’s State of World Population report. This means India will have 2.9 million more people than China.

India's population number, however, is an estimate because it has not conducted a census since 2011.

India conducts a census once every 10 years, India was supposed to carry out its census in 2021 but the exercise has been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The UN data shows that nearly 1/4th of India's population is under the age of 14 while 68 per cent of the population is in the 15 to 64 age group. 7 per cent is above the age of 65.

Global population:
According to the UN report, the global population will have hit 8.045 billion by mid-2023.

The countries with the highest fertility rates were all in Africa: Niger (6.7), Chad (6.1), DRC (6.1), Somalia (6.1), Mali (5.8) and the Central African Republic (5.8).

The territories with the lowest birth rates were Hong Kong (0.8), South Korea (0.9), Singapore (1.0), Macau and San Marino (1.1) and Aruba and China (1.2).

Key Takeaways

• India’s most recent official data dates to 2011.

• It seems paradoxical that in spite of being on the track to become the largest country in terms of population by mid 2023 India still does not have a permanent seat on the Security Council.