When it came to population China was always on top but India hasn't been far behind and had been  equally competing in the race to population.

According to a recent report by the World Population Prospects 2022 by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, India is projected to surpass China as the world's most populous country in 2023.

India is projected to have a population of 1.668 billion in 2050, more than China's 1.317 billion by the middle of this century, as per reports.

The official data, the Asian nation's population stood at around 1,411,750,000 (1.4 billion) at the end of 2022, which is a dip of 850,000 from the end of the preceding year.

The statistics is likely to mark the beginning of a decline of citizen numbers in China with possibilities of major impact on the country's economy - which also slumped after it grew only 3 per cent in 2022, one of the weakest in 40 years, official data showed.

The latest report strengthens experts' views that India - the current second most populous nation in the world - is going to overtake China at the top spot.

China's birth rate also hit the all time lowest in 2022, and after the rate its been seen India's population is growing India was surely supposed to top the list and according to many experts India has already taken over China.

Analysts have pointed out, the soaring cost of living as well as a growing number of women in the workforce and seeking higher education as reasons behind the slowdown.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announcement comes at a time when China's economic growth fell to its second-lowest in five decades, registering a paltry three per cent increase in 2022.

The last time China reported a population decline was in 1961.

Though according to new Chinese policy one can have three children, the one child policy was scrapped in 2016 because of the  rapidly ageing population in China.

Source : Mint and Hindustan Times