Massive job losses reveal India is failing to reap its demographic dividend

With unemployment at a 45-year high, poor health and low levels of education, India's demographic dividend is at risk

The recent shedding of over 350,000 jobs in its automobile sector--and thousands elsewhere--is an indicator of the economic and social hurdles that jeopardise India’s demographic dividend, the growth opportunity afforded by the world’s second largest working-age population of 688 million people.

With unemployment at a 45-year high, poor health--42 infants per 1,000 still die before turning one--and low levels of education--an average person has attended school for 6.3 years--India’s demographic dividend is at risk, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of data from the United