India to become the world's most populous nation

According to United Nations population estimates, India now has a population of 1,425,775,850 and has surpassed China for the first time.

It is also the first time since 1950 - when the UN started keeping global population records - that China has been knocked off the top spot.

The population decline in China follows decades of strict laws to bring the country's birthrate under control, including the introduction of a one-child policy in the 1980s.

The policy was initially successful but China has been left to grapple with an ageing population and a gender imbalance because of  a traditional preference to have boys.

Recent policies introduced to encourage women to have more children have done little to stimulate population growth.

Meanwhile, India's population has grown by over a billion since 1950, and the number of people in the country is still expected to rise in the coming decades.

An average of 86,000 babies are born per day in India, compared to just 49,400 in China.

Poonam Muttreja, executive director of Population Foundation of India, said that the country's population growth is no longer facing the "explosion" that many had feared.

She said: "Earlier projections said we would overtake China in 2027. So it's happened four years faster, mostly because of our young population.

"But, at the same time, we have also reduced our population growth and reached population stabilisation faster than we had imagined, and it will continue to slow down as long as we stay on the right track. So I don't think there's any need for alarm."

For feedback: contact the Editorial Department at onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com.