New data released by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that India will surpass China in population to become the world's largest country by 2025, which is about five years earlier than expected. The new data also shows that China's slowly growing population will actually peak in 2026 and then begin to slowly decline. India's population is expected to continue to rise rapidly
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Census Bureau Projects India to Become Most Populous Country in 2025 (Census Bureau)
India Will Be World’s Largest Country in 2025 (Article heading)
Hmm. Does a small stadium then become a large stadium on game day? Is an airplane only large after the passengers get on? Don’t we call Greenland a large island?
Hmmm… China has been the largest country for 1,000′s of years! Tyat is interesting.
The last two comments, I really don’t understand or don’t understand what kind of point they are trying to make. An airplane is a vehicle not a place people reside therefore the comparison makes no sense as well as the stadium comment. There are no means of production, no population. They are both essentially vessels. India does not have “game day” It is a country with a population, and a growing democracy. As for the comment about Greenland it seems that the commenter was talking about land mass, which is not the subject…population is the subject. The fact that China has been populous for thousands of years is in fact interesting, but if we look at statistics on WHO that population is, we will see a severe decline in the female population (necessary for childbirth) and there are restrictions on how many children a couple can have. This is enforced by the government through infanticide (in rural areas) forced abortion and mandatory sterilization after having one or two children. This means the base population a country has is not of childbearing age but older and the growing population is not growing at a rate to provide the population with people of childbearing age. Those who are allowed to reproduce, are not allowed to reproduce at the rate the country would need to maintain the population as it stands. China intended this to happen because of the lack of ability for the government to maintain food and services for the exponential rise in population they had maintained for so long. India on the other hand has a large base of people who are child bearing age or approaching childbearing age, and these people are reproducing at a rate that would support a more populous nation. Infant mortality has improved in India with the improved conditions associated with a successful democracy and per capita income. They have more access to sanitation, good food, transportation and medical services.
No wonder an ocean was named after India!
essie, Relax, I was talking about the USE of the words “large” and “populous.”
Like the Census people I don’t use “large” to mean “populous.” I pointed out that Greenland is large – well, because it is large, i.e. extennsive, has lots of square miles, but almost no people. To me, and the Census people, adding more people to India would not make it one bit larger.
I am annoyed when I don’t know whether someone means having many people or extensive when they say “large.” There is no need to have this confusion.
Essie, since you brought it up, a few words about population and China. You say China was very populous thousands of years ago.
Just two thousand years ago total world population was about 0.3 billion and had not likely ever been higher since we evolved into man; the present population of the US today. To put 0.3 billion in perspectives there are more people than that in India today who have no electric service whatsoever. And they were expected to decrease their CO2 emissions at Copenhagen – how fatuous. (Since 1990, the Kyoto Protocol base year use of coal has gone up 68% and its still climbing. Who tells you this?)
The world owes the Chinese a great debt of gratitude for their one child policy over the past few decades lest every problem we have would be worse today. Perhaps the greatest governmental program in all history. World population will reach 7.0 billion in a year or two. When I was born world population just reached 2 billion. At two billion we might have coped. With 7 billion and still increasing our problems are beyond solutions.
I have always wondered why India and China have amassed such large populations over time. It is certainly not from a shortage of war,conflict, and disease. A reasonable explanation is the promotion of healthy lifestyles and advanced medical knowledge. I am curious to know the answer.
Rice. China and India are the number one and two rice and wheat producers. Animal populations tend to grow until they are starvation limited. As recently as my childhood I remember there was mass (many millions) starvation in China due to floods. Ironic because the rivers were what made it possible to grow rice.
One has to remember that man was a rather rare animal up until a one thousand years ago. ( 0.3/6.8 = 4 or 5% as many as today.)