According to a UN forecast, India will soon beat China in population and that will happen by the year 2024. It even projected that the country may touch 1.5 billion population by 2030. According to a report published by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 'The World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision', China's population stands at 1.41 billion, whereas India's population is at 1.34 billion, comprising world's 19 and 18% of population respectively.
In the present purview, the report said, "In roughly seven years, or around 2024, the population of India is expected to surpass that of China."
It is said that by 2024, both the countries will have a population of 1.44 billion each. It has also been projected that India's population will continue to increase even after that, whereas China's would be stable. In fact, China is likely to project a steady decline post 2030.
The UN owes this growth in Indian population to the decline in mortality rate and increase in life expectancy. In India, life expectancy at birth will be 71 years in 2025-2030, which will grow to 74.2 years in 2045-2050. Moreover, the under-5 mortality rate is expected to decline from 32.3 deaths under age five per 1,000 live births in 2025-2030 to 18.6 in 2045-2050.
The United Nations also listed 10 countries that will add to the population increase in the world as a whole. These are India, Nigeria, Congo, Pakistan, Ethiopia, Tanzania, the United States, Uganda, Indonesia and Egypt.
The organisation has also considered migration and refugee scenarios in countries and said that large and persistent economic and demographic are likely to remain key drivers of international migration for the forseeable future. The countries considered to be the net senders of more than 100,000 migrants include India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and Indonesia.