POPULATION TRENDS AND PROBLEMS IN INDIA

Every nook and corner of India is a clear display of increasing population. According to the Indian
census, carried out in 2011, the population of India was exactly 1,210,193,422, which means India
has crossed the 1-billion mark. This is the second most populous country of the world after China
and the various studies have projected that India will be world’s number-1 populous country,
surpassing China, by 2025. In spite of the fact that the population policies, family planning and
welfare programmes undertaken by the Govt. of India have led to a continuous decrease in the
fertility rate, yet the actual stabilization of population can take place only by 2050.
Population –The trends in India
 Growing India: India is the world's second most populous country and is expected to be the
most populous by 2040.The country is undergoing the same forces of demographic transition
that have been experienced elsewhere, only delayed by few decades.
 Young India: Over 700 million Indians are below 35 years of age and over 550 million are
below 25. However despite its youthful population, India's size means that it is home to the
second largest number of older people in the world, in absolute terms.
 Unequal India: The rising income gap is creating an urban-rural divide and a north-south
imbalance. A quarter of India's population lives below the poverty line with most living off the
land on small farms with little access to new technology.
 Urbanizing India: Almost 70% of Indians still reside in rural areas although in recent decades
migration to larger cities has led to a dramatic increase in the country's urban population.
 Mega city India: India is home to around 18% of the world's population but accounts for only
2.42% of the total world area; the emergence of mega cities is inevitable.
 Aspirational India: The emerging middle class will surge tenfold; exceeding 500 million by
2025. It will command 60% of the country's spending power.
Causes of Over Population
The two main common causes leading to over population in India are:
 The birth rate is still higher than the death rate. We have been successful in declining the death
rates but the same cannot be said for birth rates.
 The fertility rate due to the population policies and other measures has been falling but even
then it is much higher compared to other countries.
The above causes are interrelated to the various social issues in our country which are leading to
over population.
Social issues leading to over population are:
 Early Marriage and Universal Marriage System: Even though legally the marriageable age of a
girl is 18 years, the concept of early marriage still prevails and getting married at an young age
prolongs the child bearing age. Also, in India, marriage is a sacred obligation and a universal
practice, where almost every woman is married at the reproductive age.
 Poverty and Illiteracy: Another factor for the rapid growth of population is poverty.
Impoverished families have this notion that more the number of members in the family, more
will be the numbers to earn income. Some feel that more children are needed to look after them
in their old age. Also hunger can be cause of death of their children and hence the need for
more children. Strange but true, Indian still lags behind the use of contraceptives and birth
control methods. Many of them are not willing to discuss or are totally unaware about them.
Illiteracy is thus another cause of over population
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 Age old cultural norm: Sons are the bread earners of the families in India. This age old thought
puts considerable pressure on the parents to produce children till a male child is born.
 Illegal migration:  illegal migration is continuously taking place from Bangladesh, Nepal
leading to increased population density in India.
Effects of Over Population
Even after so many years of independence, the scenario of our country is not good, due to over
population. Some major impacts of high population are as follows:
 Unemployment: Generating employment for a huge population in a country like India is very
difficult. The number of illiterate persons increases every year. Unemployment rate is thus
showing an increasing trend.
 Manpower utilization: The number of jobless people is on the rise in India due to economic
depression and slow business development and expansion activities.
 Pressure on infrastructure: Development of infrastructural facilities is unfortunately not
keeping pace with the growth of population. The result is lack of transportation,
communication, housing, education, healthcare etc. There has been an increase in the number of
slums, overcrowded houses, traffic congestion etc.
 Resource utilization: Land areas, water resources, forests are over exploited. There is also
scarcity of resources.
 Decreased production and increased costs: Food production and distribution have not been
able to catch up with the increasing population and hence the costs of production have
increased. Inflation is the major consequence of over population.
 Inequitable income distribution: In the face of an increasing population, there is an unequal
distribution of income and inequalities within the country widen.
 Environmental and ecological consequences: Rapid population growth, developmental
activities either to meet the growing population or the growing needs of the population as well
as changing lifestyles and consumption patterns pose major challenge to preservation and
promotion of ecological balance in India. Some of the major ecological adverse effects reported
in India include: severe pressure on the forests, adverse effect on species diversity, conversion
of habitat, tropical deforestation and destruction of mangroves for commercial needs and fuel
wood, intense grazing by domestic livestock, poaching and illegal harvesting of wildlife,
increase in agricultural area, high use of chemical fertilizers pesticides and weedicides; water
stagnation, soil erosion, soil salinity and low productivity, high level of biomass burning
causing large-scale indoor pollution, encroachment on habitat for rail and road construction
thereby fragmenting the habitat, degradation of coastal and other aquatic ecosystems from
domestic sewage, pesticides, fertilizers and industrial effluents, over fishing in water bodies and
introduction of weeds and exotic species, diversion of water for domestic, industrial and
agricultural uses leading to increased river pollution and decrease in self-cleaning properties of
rivers, increasing water requirement leading to tapping deeper aquifers which have high content
of arsenic or fluoride resulting health problems and disturbance from increased recreational
activity and tourism causing pollution of natural ecosystems with wastes left behind by people.
 Urbanization: Urban population growth has outpaced the development of basic minimum
services; housing, water supply, sewerage and solid waste disposal are far from adequate;
increasing waste generation at home, offices and industries, coupled with poor waste disposal
facilities result in rapid environmental deterioration. Increasing automobiles add to air

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 pollution. Poverty persists in urban and peri-urban areas; awareness about the glaring inequities
in close urban setting may lead to social unrest.
 Rural population and their development: Over seventy per cent of India’s population still lives
in rural areas. There are substantial differences between the states in the proportion of rural and
urban population. Agriculture is the largest and one of the most important sectors of the rural
economy and contributes both to economic growth and employment. There is substantial under
employment among these people; both wages and productivity are low. These in turn result in
poverty; it is estimated that 320 million people are still living below the poverty line in rural
India.
 Water Supply: In India, water withdrawal is estimated to be twice the rate of aquifer recharge;
as a result water tables are falling by one to three meters every year; tapping deeper aquifers
have resulted in larger population groups being exposed to newer health hazards such as high
fluoride or arsenic content in drinking water. At the other end of the spectrum, excessive use of
water has led to water logging in some parts of the country. Eventually, both lack of water and
water logging could have adverse impact on India's food production.
 Food security: In India one of the major achievements in the last fifty years has been the green
revolution and self sufficiency in food production. It is a matter of concern that while the cereal
production has been growing steadily at a rate higher than the population growth rates, the
coarse grain and pulse production has not shown a similar increase. Consequently there has
been a reduction in the per capita availability of pulses and coarse grains.
 Nutrition: India is facing two major nutritional problems; one is the threat of famine and acute
starvation due to low agricultural production and lack of appropriate food distribution system.
The other is chronic energy deficiency due to poverty, low-literacy, poor access to safe-drinking
water, sanitation and health care; these factors led to wide spread prevalence of infections and
ill health in children and adults. Kwashiorkor, marasmus, goitre, beri beri, blindness due to
Vitamin-A deficiency and anaemia were major public health problems.
Steps to Control Population in India
The Government of India, politicians, policy makers should initiate a bold population policy so that
the economic growth of the country can keep pace with the demands of a growing population.
Major steps which have been already implemented but still need to be emphasized more to control
population. Increasing the welfare and status of women and girls, spread of education, increasing
awareness for the use of contraceptives and family planning methods, sex education, encouraging
male sterilization and spacing births, free distribution of contraceptives and condoms among the
poor, encouraging female empowerment, more health care centers for the poor, can play a major
role in controlling population.
India’s strengths in the global world in various fields cannot be ignored, whether in science &
technology, medicine and health care, business and industry, military, communication,
entertainment, literature and many more. Experts are hopeful that by increasing public awareness
and enlisting strict population control norms by the Government will definitely lead the way for the
country’s economic prosperity and control of population.

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