NEW DELHI: India has become more populated than China, latest United Nations data shows.
India’s population is estimated at 1,428.6 million compared to China’s 1,425.7 million, a difference of 2.9 million, according to the 2023 State of World Population report of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Wednesday.
World population overall is 8,045 million and the Asia Pacific region is home to 4,176 million people, the report said.
The number of people living in Arab states is 468 million, while those in Latin America and the Caribbean number 661 million.
The United States is the third most populated country at 340 million, followed by Indonesia’s 277.5 million, and Pakistan at fifth spot with a population of 240.5 million.
The UNFPA in a statement cautioned against “alarmist narratives” concerning population growth.
Citing a survey of eight countries for the report, the UN agency said that people exposed to media or conversations over population growth, were more likely to see it as “too high”.
“The demographics paint a more nuanced picture,” it said.
“Two-thirds of people are now living in ‘low fertility contexts’, while just eight countries will account for half the projected growth in population by 2050,” the statement noted.
It also said that blaming fertility rates for climate change would “totally fail to hold the greatest carbon emitters to account.”
“Out of eight billion, 5.5 billion simply don’t make enough money to influence carbon emission increases,” the statement said. – BERNAMA
