India’s demographic advantage to overtake China’s by 2035

China’s demographic transition owing particularly to its stricter birth policies has grappled it with the problem of ageing population and dwindling work-force.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2021

A report released by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), China’s central bank, said that China should immediately liberalise its birth policies to tackle the problems of an ageing population and plan to compete economically with a demographically young India and an immigration-friendly US.

In a detailed section on India, the report said the gap between the two countries is narrowing. As two big countries in Asia, China’s economic growth has been faster than India’s for a long time but in recent years, China’s demographic dividend fading, India’s economic growth has tended to approach China’s, the report said.

It added that China’s ageing population and the declining birth rate will become more serious in 10 years while India’s demographic structure will be further optimised.

The report pointed out that India’s labour force will exceed China’s by hundreds of millions in the years ahead.

By 2050, this advantage will continue to grow. Not only will India have a much narrower elderly population at the top and a much wider workforce in the middle, but it will also have a wider workforce at the bottom, indicating a more abundant workforce and greater growth potential beyond 2050.