India overtakes China to become world’s most populous nation

India has overtaken China to become the world's most populous nation, according to the United Nations.

News agency PTI while quoting a UN report said that India's current population stands at 142.86 crore.

The report of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFP), 'The State of World Population Report 2023, titled 8 Billion Lives, Infinite Possibilities: The Case for Rights and Choices' which was released on Wednesday said that India's population stood at 1,428.6 million, while in the case of China it is 1,425.7 million.,

The latest figures have been given under the category of 'Demographic Indicators.'

The number of people in China shrank for the first time last year since 1960, when millions starved to death under the disastrous policies of former president Mao Zedong.

The UNFP report said that 25 per cent of India's population is in the age group of 0-14, 18 per cent in 10-19, 26 per cent in the 10-24, 68 per cent in 15-64 and 7 per cent in the above 65 years age bracket.

China is doing better in the context of life expectancy, which in the case of the women is 82 and 76 in the case of men. The figure for India and 74 for women and 71 for men, according to the report.

The number of births in China did not increase as expected since Beijing abolished the one-child policy and allowed even three children.

The UNFP report overall called for a 'radical re-think' of how population numbers are framed. It also urged politicians and media to abandon overblown narratives about population booms and busts.

"Instead of asking how fast people are reproducing, leaders should ask whether individuals, especially women, are able to freely make their own reproductive choices - a question whose answer, too often, is no," the UNFP said in a statement.