<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">India is set to overtake China to become the most populous country in the world by the middle of this year, data released by the United Nations shows.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">India's population is pegged to reach 1,428.6 million against China's 1,425.7 million, reports BBC.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This shows India will have 2.9 million more people than its Asian neighbour.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The Asian giants have more than 1.4 billion people each, and have accounted for more than a third of the global population for over 70 years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">India's population number, however, is an estimate since there has been no Census in the country after 2011.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Also, the UN says their estimate does not include the population of China's two Special Administrative Regions - Hong Kong and Macau - and the island of Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a breakaway province to be unified with the mainland one day. But Taiwan sees itself as distinct from the Chinese mainland, with its own constitution and democratically-elected leaders.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In November, the global population crossed 8bn. But experts say growth is not as rapid as it used to be and is now at its slowest rate since 1950.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both India and China have seen declines in their fertility rates. In China, the population started declining last year, despite the country abandoning its one-child policy in 2016 and introducing incentives for couples to have two or more children.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In India too, fertility rates have fallen substantially in recent decades from 5.7 births per woman in 1950 to 2.2 births per woman today. UNB</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>