TEMPO.CO, London - India is set to overtake China as the world's most populous country in the next 15 years, according to the United Nations. According to the UN report entitled the World Population Prospects: 2012 Revision, the two nations India and China, will number 1.45 billion people each.
After 2018, India's population will continue to grow until mid of the century, while China's slowly declines. Population decline in China can already been seen today due to the one-child policy applied in the country.
In the meantime, Nigeria's population is expected to exceed that of the US by 2050. "Although population growth has slowed for the world as a whole, in some developing countries, especially in Africa, population is still growing rapidly," commented Wu Hongbo, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.
The population of developed regions will remain largely unchanged and stable at around 1.3 billion from today until the year 2050. However, population in 49 least developed countries are projected to double in size from around 900 million people in 2013 to 1.8 billion in 2050.
HARUN MAHBUB
