India's growing population may strengthen its permanent UNSC membership claim – UN official

UN: India’s claim for permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) may get strengthened if it surpasses China and becomes the world’s most populous nation in 2023, according to a top UN population official.

The World Population Prospects 2022 report released on Monday said that India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country next year. According to the report, India’s population stands at 1.412 billion in 2022, compared to China’s 1.426 billion.

India, which will surpass China as the world’s most populous nation by 2023, is projected to have a population of 1.668 billion in 2050, way ahead of China’s 1.317 billion people by the middle of the century.

The report, compiled by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, notes that the global population is projected to reach 8 billion on November 15, 2022.

The global population is growing at its slowest rate since 1950, having fallen under one per cent in 2020.

The latest projections by the United Nations suggest that the world’s population could grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050. It is projected to reach a peak of around 10.4 billion people during the 2080s and to remain at that level until 2100.

India has been at the forefront of the years-long efforts to reform the Security Council saying it rightly deserves a place as a permanent member of the Council, which in its current form does not represent the geo-political realities of the 21st Century.The report said that the world’s two most populous regions in 2022 were Eastern and South-Eastern Asia, with 2.3 billion people, representing 29 per cent of the global population, and Central and Southern Asia, with 2.1 billion, representing 26 per cent of the total world population.

– THE ECONOMIC TIMES