India's demographic dividend: More talked about than actually encashed

In a country that often touts achievements ahead of their actually being achieved, the story about the demographic dividend being largely wasted is unfortunately likely to continue, writes T N Ninan

Most publications have uncritically accepted the position put out by a United Nations organisation that India this month has become the world’s most populous nation. Its assessed population of nearly 1,429 million is said to be fractionally more than China’s — for the first time since modern census operations began. The World Bank repeats the UN numbers, though it claims to use multiple data sources — none of which, however, endorses the UN position that India now has the larger population.

Importantly, neither China nor India supports the claim that India’s population has overtaken China’s. India’s population projection for