A street market in Delhi, India, in 2014.
Credit: © Don Mammoser, Shutterstock

In late April 2023, India claimed the title of the world’s most populous country. Nearly 2.9 million more people live in India than China, which held the title since 1950. A densely populated country, about a sixth of the 8 billion person global population resides in India, the seventh largest country in size. There are around 1.4 billion people in India. As the population of India continues growing, many other countries face a stagnant population or even decreasing numbers. According to the United Nations, India’s population is expected to peak at 1.7 billion in 2064. The rapid growth brings challenges in education, infrastructure, and jobs.

While the birth rate, or children per woman, of many countries around the world keeps declining, India’s population keeps growing. In 1970, China and India had similar birth rates of 5.8 in China and 5.72 in India. India’s birth rate dropped from 6 in the 1960’s to 3.4 in 1992. India’s birth rate further dropped to 2 in 2021. Despite this fertility rate decrease, India continues to grow because the average family in the 1960’s had 6 children. Those children are now parents and grandparents. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke in 2019 about controlling India’s population growth by encouraging limiting the number of children in a family.

A country’s average fertility rate must be 2.1 to maintain a population. Decades of limiting families to one child in China halted the population growth. India also established measures to curb rapid population growth, but the decline in the birth rate was more gradual compared to China’s. China’s birth rate fell to 1.2 in 2022, the nation’s lowest ever, despite the end of one-child policies in 2016. Throughout the world, the COVID-19 pandemic coincided with lower birth rates.

Many populations are aging throughout the world. The median age of a country shows at what age half the population is older and half is younger. In 2022, India’s median age of 28.7 was almost a decade lower than China’s 38.4. According to the Census Bureau, the median age in the United States reached a record high of 38.9 years in 2022. Since the birth rate has declined, the median age will continue growing older. The populations of India and China over the age of 65 will double by 2050. As healthcare and other survival measures improve and the birth rates fall, the number of people over the age of 65 is increasing in many countries. Aging populations strain economies as older citizens retire from work and require medical care and other assistance.

With such rapid population growth, unemployment levels have risen. In 2021, India’s working-age population contained 900 million people. It is projected that number will hit 1 billion in several years. Many cannot find work and have to travel or move to find secure employment. While India’s fast-growing economy has become the fifth largest in the world, the wealth is not spread evenly across the country. Its gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of a healthy economy, is high. Dividing India’s high GDP by its large population reveals an extremely low per capita GDP. Due to its low per capita GDP, India is still considered a developing country and one of the poorest nations in the world.

The Indian government is incentivizing living in smaller towns as the larger cities deal with pollution and rising temperatures. By improving infrastructure and public transportation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hopes to encourage migration to smaller towns. The population has outgrown India’s transportation systems. In June 2023, a train crash in Odisha killed more than 261 people. The trains were packed with people, with many standing for the entire trip. The trains were so crowded that it hindered rescue efforts.

Many experts believe improving education for women across India will solve many of its problems. World Bank data shows that only 19 percent of women in India participated in the workforce in 2021. By providing education for women after primary school, they can help lead India into the future. If more women receive an education and enter the workforce, the birth rate will decline further, improving the quality of life and strength of democracy in India.

Melbourne’s skyline along the Yarra River.
Credit: © Rudy Balasko, Shutterstock

Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, has been Australia’s most populous city since 1911. However, Melbourne has surpassed  in population for the first time in over a hundred years. Officials expanded Melbourne’s city limits to include the western suburb of Melton, which added enough people to overtake Sydney. According to the 2021 census, Melbourne now has 4,875,400 residents that call it home, only 18,700 more than Sydney recorded. Researchers say Melbourne’s rapid growth is due to international immigration. Melbourne is the capital city of Victoria. Melbourne is known for celebrating diversity, affordable living costs, and strong employment and education opportunities.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics includes surrounding suburbs in the population. In some definitions that exclude surrounding suburbs, Sydney remains the most populous city in Australia. However, Melbourne is projected to pass Sydney in all definitions by 2031. What a growth spurt!

Melbourne is a busy seaport on Port Phillip Bay, on the southern coast of the Australian mainland. Melbourne is one of the nation’s largest ports and Victoria’s commercial, financial, and industrial center. The discovery of gold in Victoria in 1851 boosted Melbourne’s economy and population, making it Australia’s fastest-growing and largest city.

Prospectors discovered gold in Victoria in 1851. Gold attracted many people and laid the foundation for economic growth. Before the discovery of gold, the population of Melbourne and its suburbs was about 29,000. By 1861, the population had reached nearly 140,000, and Melbourne had become Australia’s largest city.

Mining in Victoria declined in the 1860′s. But manufacturing, encouraged by tariffs (taxes on imported goods) and the growing local market, offset the decline. Melbourne’s growth continued. City officials constructed many public buildings and developed new suburbs. Railways extended wheat farming across the Wimmera River. Officials developed port facilities to handle increasing exports of wool and grain. Melbourne had become the commercial and financial capital of Australia. This period of intense growth ended in the 1890′s, and by 1911, Sydney surpassed Melbourne in size.

Melbourne is one of Australia’s most important cities, with contributions in such areas as the arts, business, and politics. Melbourne is home to the Australian Ballet, the Melbourne Theatre Company, the Malthouse Theatre, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and many other performing arts companies. Opera Australia performs in the city several months each year. Arts Centre Melbourne, south of the Yarra River, includes the State Theatre, the Playhouse, and Hamer Hall, a concert hall.

Melbourne is also noted for its major sporting events. Melbourne is the original home of Australian Rules football, a contact sport somewhat similar to rugby. The city hosts several major sporting events each year. They include the Australian Open tennis championship and the Australian Formula One Grand Prix. Melbourne also hosts Australia’s most popular horse race, the Melbourne Cup, held each year at Flemington Racecourse. The race day is a public holiday in the Melbourne metropolitan area, and the race is popular with viewers worldwide.

November 1, 2011

The human population of Earth hit 7 billion on October 31, 2011, as an estimated 500,000 babies were born around the world. This milestone, declared by the United Nations (UN), occurred only 12 years after the world’s population reached 6 billion. In contrast, the total number of people on Earth did not reach the 1-billion mark until 1804, almost 2 million years after the appearance of the first modern human beings. The UN predicted that Earth’s population would reach 9 billion by 2050.

Rising populations will put additional strains on agriculture and water supplies, experts have predicted. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization calculated that by 2050 food production would have to increase by 70 percent to prevent widespread famine. Experts also warned that warming temperatures, freakish weather disasters, and other aspects of climate change may prevent farmers from meeting these targets. In addition, water usage was expected to increase by 50 percent between 2007 and 2025 in developing countries, where most population growth is occurring.

India is one of the largest and most densely populated countries in the world. World Book photo by David R. Frazier

At the same time, Earth’s population is aging, as birth rates have fallen dramatically in more developed countries and life spans have increased. Such trends have created an imbalance between the numbers of workers and older people who depend on taxpayer-funded social welfare programs.

Additional World Book articles:

• China
• Erlich, Paul Ralph
• Food supply
• India
• Malthus, Thomas