INDIA – NEWS
The UN estimates that India now has a population of 1.425 billion, meaning that for the first time since data has been collected since 1950, China is no longer the country with the largest population on the planet.
However, this news was not taken as a sign that India’s status as a world power was strengthening. For example, Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, stated that although India has a larger population, China still has more “talent”.
The German publication Der Spiegel published a cartoon to accompany the news, showing an old crowded Indian train overtaking a modern Chinese one. The public in India strongly condemned the cartoon as racist.
What are India's advantages?
According to Srikanth Kodapalli, a professor at a university in New Delhi, India’s population is an asset rather than a problem. The scholar points out that the average age of the country’s residents is 27, lower than the global average, which he believes will help India reap a “demographic dividend”.
“The fundamentals are improving, literacy and medical provision is going up. Today we are the world’s fifth largest economy and by 2030 we aim to be in third place,” the professor notes.
Today India is the fastest growing economy in the world. The World Bank predicts its GDP growth of 6.9 per cent in 2023. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects it to average 6.1 per cent over the next five years.
Source: Deutsche Welle
