The theme of World Population Day for this year is “Leave no one behind, count everyone”. With about 142.86 crore population, India overtook China to become the world’s most populous nation, according to the UNFPA’s State of the World Population Report in 2023. India has about 2.4 per cent of the world’s land area and only 4 per cent of water, is home to about 18 per cent of the world’s population. The main reason for many problems spreading in India like unemployment, poverty, hunger, pollution, and illiteracy is the population of the country not being commensurate with the resources.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made a provision in this year’s interim budget to constitute a High Power Committee to comprehensively consider the challenges arising from rapidly increasing population and demographic changes. Overpopulation can worsen health care indices like morbidity and mortality as preventive and screening health care needs of the population (especially the vulnerable sections like women, children, and elderly) are not adequately met. It is therefore imperative for the policy makers to focus on the needs of women, youth, and marginalised communities that remain inadequate owing to the rising population.
Even though India became the world’s most populous nation, we have attained the replacement-level fertility rate. This means that the average number of children born per woman is sufficient to keep the population size stable from one generation to the next. Although we have made remarkable progress towards population stabilisation, there is however a need for a shift in focus — on reaching the unreached, that is, the women, young people, and marginalised communities. The reproductive rights, access to resources, and health and wellbeing outcomes of these groups remain inadequate.
There are approximately 24 million women in India with an unmet need for family planning, meaning they want to stop or delay childbearing but lack the access or agency to use contraception. The upcoming budget must increase the investment in family planning, especially in long-lasting modern contraceptives, as addressing these needs is crucial for achieving equitable and sustainable development. This was also advocated by the Union Health Minister J P Nadda, who called for “healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy for the health and wellbeing of mother and child.”
Population increases also create congestion and deplete human health resources. It also adds load to our already overburdened infrastructure, deprives people of basic amenities and causes scarcity of water and problems related to hygiene and sewage. Uplifting women is an efficient strategy to keep the overpopulation problem in check. Educated women are more likely to exercise their reproductive rights, that is, use contraception and motivate their partners for the same, plan families, and consider termination of undesired pregnancies. They are also more likely to understand the importance of having small and healthy families.
