Tapping advantages of population structure
India's population will grow to 1.41 billion by the middle of this month, making it larger than China's, and so it will be the world's most populous country, according to a series of demographic studies, including those conducted by the United Nations.
India's large population is set to boost its international standing, especially as it is already the world's fifth-largest economy and the fastest growing major economy.
In the long term, India, along with Vietnam, is likely to compete with China in the mid- to low-end manufacturing sector. The two countries have a large pool of young labor resources for economic take-off.
However, they still need to well manage problems arising from their large population, and constantly improve the quality of their labor force to harvest the demographic dividends.
Although India has a young and dynamic population with high fertility potential, farmers make up more than 70 percent of India's population, and the population as a whole is poorly educated.
With the global population forecast to peak at 9.7 billion in 2064, and India's population expected to continue growing to 1.7 billion, managing such a large and religiously diverse population will be a huge challenge for the Indian government, putting pressure on freshwater resources, energy security and sanitation. In addition, the country's ability to create jobs in the face of a rapidly growing working-age population is being tested.
In contrast, China is currently facing the challenge of an aging society. The year 2022 marked the beginning of its negative population growth. China has entered a period when more attention should be paid to more fairly distributing public resources between cities and villages, and further expand the coverage of quality education so as to effectively ease the burden on families, enhance the quality of the nation's labor force, and make it easier for the young people particularly those from the low-income families to change their fate through personal struggle.
