India's Population Projected to Match and Then Overtake China's by End of April: UN

New Delhi: India’s population is projected to match China’s by the end of April. The United Nations said that it would then surpass China and assume the mantle of the world’s most populous country.

The announcement by the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) comes days after the UN Population Fund said last week India would have 2.9 million more people than China by the middle of 2023.

UN population officials had said, reports Reuters, it was not possible to pinpoint a date because of uncertainty relating to data from India and China, with India's last census held in 2011 and the next, which had been due in 2021, being delayed.

DESA says “both China and India conduct regular population and housing censuses to enumerate and document their national populations, and both countries use the information obtained to inform their development planning. In China, the most recent census was taken in November 2020. More than a decade has passed since India’s most recent census in 2011. India’s planned 2021 census was delayed".

India’s population is expected to reach 1,425,775,850 by the end of this month, DESA said on April 24, Monday, based on the latest UN estimates of the global population.

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