Article Title: India’s population has hit 146.39 crore - UNFPA
11-06-2025
Social Issues Current Affairs Analysis
Context
• India’s population is estimated to have reached 146.39 crore by April, says a new UN demographic report, which adds that the country’s total fertility rate (TFR) has declined to 1.9, falling below the replacement level of 2.1.
• The population is expected to grow to 170 crore before starting to dip in about 40 years, the report titled “State of the World Population 2025: The Real Fertility Crisis” says. It calls India the “world’s most populous nation”, while pegging China’s current population at 141.61 crore.
• The demographic indicators in the United Nations Population Fund report for 2025 are close to India’s own projection of its population published in 2019 by a technical group of experts.
• The decennial Census, due to have been conducted in 2021, has been delayed and the government has now announced that it will be completed by March 2027. The last Census was conducted in 2011.
• The TFR measures the number of children a woman is expected to have throughout her reproductive age
What is the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)?
• UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency.
• The United Nations Fund for Population Activities was established as a trust fund in 1967.
• The agency began operating in 1969 as the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, the same year the United Nations General Assembly declared “parents have the exclusive right to determine freely and responsibly the number and spacing of their children.”
• In 1987, it was officially renamed the United Nations Population Fund, reflecting its lead role in the United Nations system in the area of population.
• Headquarters: New York
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