UN report cautions against misusing population data for societal divisions

Cites published literature, cases of ethno-nationalism, great replacement theory to make the point

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has cautioned countries, including India, against misusing the population statistics to “fuel societal divisions”. A word of caution was sounded in UNFPA’s “State of World Population Report 2023”, which projected India's population to exceed China’s by 2.9 million by mid-2023.

“Indeed, the use or misuse of population statistics to fuel societal divisions is widespread and longstanding,” said the report.

Dipping into history, the UN agency said that in India, the rise of nationalism during the early 20th century was accompanied by rhetoric regarding the country's Muslim population, which was linked to unfounded fears