An incredibly crowded street

A typically busy marketplace in Delhi, India. The city has more than 32 million residents.

Amarjeet Kumar Singh/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

STANDARDS

Common Core: RH.6-8.1, RH.6-8.2, RH.6-8.4, RH.6-8.7, WHST.6-8.4, RI.6-8.1, RI.6-8.2, RI.6-8.4, RI.6-8.7, W.6-8.4, SL.6-8.1

NCSS: Time, Continuity, and Change • People, Places, and Environments • Power, Authority, and Governance • Production, Distribution, and Consumption

GEOGRAPHY

India’s Growing Pains

India is poised to become the world’s most populous country in 2023. What might that mean for the already crowded South Asian nation? 

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For centuries, China has had more people than any other place on Earth. But that East Asian giant is about to lose its top spot. 

New projections from the United Nations (U.N.) show that India is likely to surpass China as the world’s most populous country in 2023, with a population of more than 1.44 billion people. After that, China’s population is projected to decline, while India’s will continue to climb during the next few decades (see graph below).

The South Asian country’s growth reflects the planet’s. Overall, the U.N. report says, the global population continues to increase at a rapid pace. It has more than tripled since the mid-20th century and could exceed 10 billion people by 2059.

Population growth is not necessarily a good thing. The more people a country has, the more it has to care for. Overpopulation can put a severe strain on a nation’s economy and lead to widespread extreme poverty—a challenge India already faces. According to the World Bank, in 2017 more than 20 percent of Indians lived on less than $1.90 per day. 

Educating Women

India has been trying to limit its population growth since it gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1947. Even then, the young developing nation was concerned about having more people than it could provide with food, housing, health care, education, and clean water. In 1952, India became the first country to use government programs to try to slow the number of new births.

One of India’s most important efforts in recent decades has been to promote education and career opportunities for women. With such advantages, women tend to improve their families’ economic well-being. Studies also show that they start having children later in life, which reduces the size of families. This can, in turn, benefit the next generation. In the past, many kids in India had to work to help support their families. Now, in the best cases, their families can afford to send them to school instead.

India’s efforts have led to some progress in raising the general standard of living in the country. One recent study estimated that between 2005 and 2017, the nation was able to lift hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty.

Enlargeable photo of a teacher demonstrating an experiment while students are gathered around her

Mayur Kakade/Getty Images

Students in an Indian classroom learn about robotics.

The Problem of Density

Yet providing for all of India’s citizens remains a daunting task. Adding to the difficulty is the matter of population density, or the average number of people per square mile (see "Understanding Population Density," below). Compared with the U.S., India has about four times as many people but only one-third the land area.

The problem is most keenly felt in urban areas. Mumbai, Delhi, and other large cities in India are among the world’s most crowded. According to the World Population Review, Mumbai has about 83,660 people per square mile. (New York City, the most densely populated city in the U.S., has some 29,729.) Having so many people packed into a place can lead to the spread of disease, poor sanitation, pollution, and high crime.

UNDERSTANDING

Population Density

Population density is the average number of people per square mile or kilometer in a particular area. To figure out an area’s population density, divide its population (number of people) by its land area (number of square miles or kilometers). Knowing such information is important for studying how people live in and relate to their surroundings.

Channeling Growth

India’s increasing population isn’t all bad news, experts say. One recent study estimates that within the next few decades, the nation will have about 22 percent of the world’s workforce-age people. This could make India a global economic powerhouse as it nears the 100th anniversary of its independence.

The trick will be to channel the growth for good, says Aparajita Chattopadhyay, a professor at the International Institute for Population Sciences in Mumbai. To do so, India will need to provide education, job training, and employment to many more of its people.  

“We need to absorb the young population in our workforce,” says Chattopadhyay. “And especially, we need to encourage women to get an education.”

SKILL SPOTLIGHT: Using a Population Map

1. The dark-pink color on the map represents how many people per square mile?

2. About how many people per square mile live in the lightest-pink areas?

3. Which continent has the largest densely populated areas?

4. What is the fifth-largest nation by population? How many people live there?

5. What labeled part of South America has the lowest population density? 

6. What densely populated African city is labeled?

7. Why might a large part of northern Africa have a low population density? 

8. The U.S. has how many more people than Indonesia?

9. What large region controlled by Denmark has among the lowest population densities? 

10. Most of India falls into two categories of population density noted on the key: “more than 250 people” and which other one?

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