welcome. you are watching d w. news coming up next in d, w, news, asia. china makes way. the india is the world's most populous nation. so how will delhi make the most of it? demographic dividend? that's coming up next on the news asia with melissa chat. i'm a new group is mckinnon. thanks for watching the w and have a lovely day with me time for a brain update because this orchestra called the brain continuously adapts itself. and so we ask a few astute questions. we smarter a swarms. are you

a psycho cra, wouldn't causes monster waves. oh, powerful, or your thought? we can control our thoughts, which makes us very powerful questions about life, the universe and the rest that we're series 40 to the answer. almost every thing this week on t w. it fits with this, says d, w. news. asia coming up today is projected to overtake china. is the world's most populous country during the current month, april of 2023. after more than 70 years, as the world's most populous country, china is now number 2. what that means for both countries and their economies.

ah, my name is melissa chan, thanks for joining us. we take a closer look today at 2 of the world's most populous countries. india and china. china has claimed the top spot since the 1950s, but india is forecast to finally overtake china's population. they are both neck and neck at 1400000000 citizens. but india's population is set to keep growing, kicking in the twenty's sixty's, or china's appears to be already declining. keep in mind that because china and india collect census data differently, and we're talking about large numbers here that we do not know precisely when india surpasses china. but demographers say it is happening sometime this month. it may have actually already happened. now, despite india surpassing china's numbers,

both countries have the daunting task of a growing elderly population that their economies will need to take care of. and both governments currently have inadequate social safety nets to ensure a dignified life. for many of those getting older between 20232015, the number of persons aged 65 are over, is expected to nearly double in china and to more than double in india. these trends call attention to the challenges of providing social support and protection to growing numbers of older persons. china's population boom and projected decline paints. a fascinating picture of an authoritarian state at 1st push people to have children then reversed course, to implement a family planning policy that limited many couples to just one child. and now it faces this demographic drop while simultaneously seeing it's elderly population. gro, you'll remember that in the 1000 ninety's young chinese workers from the countryside

flooded cities to take the factory and construction jobs. fueling the boom that saw china become the world's 2nd largest economy. that liverpool is shrinking and like it did in 19 fifties. the government is now encouraging women to have more children . again, that's why you have baiting playing down this demographic milestone. dismissing it as unnecessary hype, officials are privately worried, even though they are publicly staying up beat from we're josefina still has 1400000000 people, newton 900000000 of working age torture drug work. we've implemented a national strategy to actively respond to the aging population poacher to torture, to lou as premier lee chung pointed out, china's demographic dividend has not disappeared on how talent dividend is taking shape and development. momentum remained strong. barbara yaeger challenge. so there's much excitement in india, but even back in the year, 2000 when the country marked it's 1000000000 baby with great fanfare,

the conversation was already shifting, especially among educated urban elites who like their counterparts around the world, were wanting fewer children to day. many people equate population growth with a declining quality of life. either with a chick on it either way or the progress of the companies, me or the grantees me king of is of isn't technology and us really or her unemployment while we're living in as it is the 2 of the problems via hunger, our hunger hunger could be a biggest challenge because there's not adequate food for everyone in this country . people need more housing facilities as the population is increasing. but it's not a viable india because our land area is much smaller as compared to china. gomez. i know a lot of people should know that having children is not the issue, but raising them is the focus should be on a healthy upbringing this danielle is g 7. honda, having fewer children, is

a trend also playing out among muslims. the country's largest minority group with the highest fertility rate, but birth control options and education are pushing more in the community to make the decision for smaller families. i thought likes been founded by family. she'd grew up in a conservative muslim household in new delhi with 6 other siblings. decades ago, it was the norm for muslim bed and still had 7 children. like master's degree holder, reisa decided to have only do. i saw to do different people have different ideas. that was the majority of muslims, especially the clerical types of believe and propagate that these things contraception and family planning. i've been by god and our god has said so, and that is why one should not practice any of them. but actually there is no such thing in the could on. oh, indian muslim women have on average 2.3 children,

the highest, the gross, all religions click on treat. but that treat has also seen the biggest decline over last 20 years. suggesting that muslim families have embraced family planning. oh, scholarship or a slump. believe education has changed to muslim demographics in india, we have been interpreting no, fair, dennis or so in the more than me. and in the event that is more useful for the common people. so all this thing, these aspects and a, you know, i will be a d and the facility the sector have better. that note must be a little everybody's motivated and doesn't have any kind of gate. a in family planning around 200 kilometers away from delhi is the city of motor about muslims make up 46 percent of the population here. the younger generation of this local

muslim family i defying orthodoxy was the cost of living. i of course higher than the or yeah, but it does not go near the expense we are not having the children right now. and this is what i think is planning based right now we are very before the goods are right now. we don't want them to be in our life right now. we want to live the life for our social indian state governments happened to do separate measures to slow down population court. on average india, the fidelity date has fallen due to a personal choice that could play a huge role in shaping the future of the country. joining us as put up with treasure of the population foundation of india. thank you so much for coming on the program. so it's a big moment for india with a lot of focus on the numbers. but population growth either makes people nervous

due to questions about sustaining a good quality of life for so many or economists get excited about the future labor pool. where do you fall on this spectrum? actually in death falls on the 2nd spectrum because india has a huge young population. we have 350000000 people who are below the age 25. so there is an excitement about the prospect of economic growth. accelerated the potential of what economists and demographers of population dividend. so that is where india right now is because the population is going to grow for some time because we have a young population. and number 2, we have 25 years of window of opportunity to scale out people and have

people not only contribute to economic growth in india, but globally, because fertility is declining at an alarming rate in large number of countries, china, japan, korea. and so he talk about this opportunity that these 25 years. so what is the policy suggestion? you give the indian government? what's the number one policy suggestion when it comes to handling it's new status as the world's most populous country? so without losing any time being need to start killing up people, we need higher education, better quality or higher education, which is coupled with which is combined with skills, skill development, in areas where they are economic growth opportunities and 2nd women's empowerment. because unless you invest in women and they have the agency to decide

how many children they have and not to marry early and go on to participating in the economy only then in they are really become a developed country. and no country in the world has it been able to achieve without equal participation of them and to the g d p growth and greater empowerment of them. and those are the 2 big things for india and opportunities for women to right. and. and so is that trending in the right direction? because sometimes you see in the news setbacks for women's equality in india. but are we seeing that it's trending in the right direction in terms of women in the workforce? women in control of their reproductive reproductive capabilities. know that a b, b need to do a lot more. but the real issue here is that the girls and women in india,

their aspirations have changed even because they've seen how the better half lives . and so why the government may not have invested so much and women's environment, it is that goes on aspirations that are needing them to take a goal or marrying late educating more tra. so are there any lessons that can be drawn from china's demographic experience for india to learn from whether these are mistakes made or a good beijing policy? the good policy made by beijing was that they invested in education and health much before they brought in that one child policy, which was a wrong policy. but in the i'm must learn from what not to do. so what we really need to do is learn from china that india did read by not

having any democratic process like the one child didn't place a fertility has the line out in the course of measures. so we are doing the right thing, not only we have to learn, but other countries like africa, learned that by investing in development, you can achieve a stable fertility decline and not have the problem. china as having china. second problem is that they suddenly have a very big line, huge decline in the young population and a huge increase in the age age. it an india will not meet the same fate in absolutely. suddenly we will do this daily and perhaps lower than china. but we will do it steadily and the balance

between the young and the elderly will remain. and 2nd, you know, the young population that we keep talking about that has the been go to the economy, the but it is much longer because of the study. when i'm a credit, thank you so much for joining us. that does it for today. thank you for watching and see you tomorrow with e co india. they call themselves healing him anadia and they're growing in numbers . the environmentalists are cleaning out the rubbish left behind by millions of tourists in the mountains, is one of the downsides of the tourism boone and poses

a threat to the livelihoods of many people in the region. next on d, w. ah, oh, what people have to say matters to us. i am. that's why we listen to their stories reporter every weekend on d. w. thank well, not surprising at all. everyone in my city is used to listening. there are heaps of waste on the road side.