India to overtake China as world’s most populous nation, UN reveals

The country's population is projected to reach 1.4286 billion people by mid this year, and that it will have 2.9 million people more than China which is projected to have 1.4257 billion people at around the same time.

China has for decades been considered the world’s most populous nation, but its population has recently shrunk for the first time since 1961 following a plunge in birth rate.

India’s population forecast which is included in the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) State of the World Population report is an estimate since there has been no census since 2011.

According to the BBC, the UN's Chief of Population Estimates and Projection, Patrick Gerland, said any numbers about India's real population size are “naïve assumptions based on fragmental information.”

“We don't have real official data coming out from India,” he told BBC.

The two nations (China and India) account for almost a third of the world’s population, and have been some of the fastest growing economies in the last two decades.

China’s population shrink was severally reported in international media last year as concerns of the country's slow in economic growth due to COVID-19 heated up.

Some economic experts have since wondered if China will indeed ever surpass the United States of America as the world’s leading economy given its shrinking population.

It should be noted that a large productive population plays a crucial role in propelling a country economically.