India overtakes China to become most populous country: UN report
Darpan News Desk IANS, 19 Apr, 2023 03:55 PM
New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) India has overtaken China to become the most populous country in the world, suggests data from a newly released United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report on Wednesday.
According to the UNFPA's The State of World Population Report, 2023, India's population has reached 1,428.6 million while China's stands at 1,425.7 million -- a difference of 2.9 million.
The UN's World Population Prospects 2022 had also projected India to surpass China as the world's most populous country during 2023.
Further, the latest UNFPA report stated that in India 25 per cent of the population constitutes children aged 0-14, 18 per cent are those aged 10-19 years, 26 per cent belong to the 10-24 age group. About 68 per cent are in the 15-64 age category, while those above 65 are just 7 per cent.
On the other hand, China has about 17 per cent of the population under 14 years of age, 12 per cent in the 10-19 age group, 18 per cent in the 10-24 age group.
While 69 per cent are in the 15-64 age category, about 14 per cent or nearly 200 million people are above the age of 65.
However, China is doing better than India in the context of life expectancy, which in the case of women is 82 and 76 that of men. The figures for India are 74 and 71, according to the report.
"The Indian survey findings suggest that population anxieties have seeped into large portions of the general public," Andrea Wojnar, Representative for UNFPA India, said in a statement.
"Yet, population numbers should not trigger anxiety or create alarm. Instead, they should be seen as a symbol of progress, development, and aspirations if individual rights and choices are being upheld," she said.
Meanwhile, the report also highlighted the issues of women's decreased right to bodily autonomy.
The SWOP report noted that 44 per cent of partnered women and girls in 68 reporting countries do not have the right to make informed decisions about their bodies on matters of sex, contraception and seeking health care. Close to 257 million women worldwide have an unmet need for safe, reliable contraception.
"So many women lack control over their bodies, including the right to have children - to decide when they want to have them and how many," said Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director at Population Foundation of India, in a statement.
According to the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey (2019-21), India's unmet need for contraception is 9.4 per cent, indicating that even when couples want to adopt a contraceptive method, it is not available to them.
Moreover, early and forced marriages continue to happen - with nearly one out of every four women in India married before they turn 18.A Family and social norms have been pushing women into marriage and motherhood - leaving them without a choice.
"Even as India becomes the most populous country in the world, the programmatic discourse should focus on ensuring that comprehensive and equitable services are available to people regardless of where they live or which strata of society they belong to. At the same time, we need to make sure that girls and women are not pushed into early marriages and pregnancies, which limit their aspirations," Muttreja added.
The UNFPA report recommends that governments must create policies with "gender equality and rights at their heart, such as parental leave programmes, child tax credits, policies that promote gender equality in the workplace, and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights."
The cause of the provocation is yet to be ascertained, an official told IANS, adding the situation is under control. Videos of the ruckus were viral on the social media. Many parked vehicles and a nearby police station was pelted on with stones.
The court had, on March 4, extended Sisodia's CBI custody for two days and listed his bail plea for March 10 and in the last two days, the CBI questioned him with key witnesses -- former excise commissioner Arva Gopi Krishna and former excise department secretary C. Arvind -- in this case, who recorded their statements in front of a magistrate.
A police official said that the two men, wearing masks, entered the bank branch at around 9.45 a.m. when only three employees were present there, and threatened the staff with a pistol. They forced the staff to open the vault where Rs 10 lakh was kept and fled with the money by 10.30 am.
The Chief Minister, who reviewed the arrangements for the mega event here, said Punjab is fully ready to host the sessions and asked the officers to ensure foolproof arrangements for the working sessions slated to take place at the holy city of Amritsar next week.
The arrested customers have been identified as Anil, Rajan, Sagir, Abhishek and Harish. The house belongs to one Neeraj Bhati. Police recovered six mobile phones, Rs 2,100 in cash and objectionable items from their possession.
As during over one-hour address in English, the Governor was referring to 36 government school principals being sent on a five-day leadership development programme to Singapore, Bajwa again stood up and reminding Purohit about his letter to Mann on the issue.
