In”Young and Raring to Go” in a recent issue of “Businessworld“, Latha Jishnu makes interesting observations about India’s demographic profile.
60 years after Independence, at the anvil of rapid economic progress, India’s demographic profile is fairly unique.
The population is expected to grow from 1.02 billion in 2001 to 1.4 billion by 2026. Significantly, the bulge is in the middle of the population chart- in the working age of 15 to 59 (largely those between 18 and 35). The base (aged below 14 ) and the top (aged above 60 ) of the population chart composed of the dependent category is actually declining.
India is one of the youngest populations in the world. More than half the population- 54 % – is less than 25 years of age. Very few countries have as much as 83 % of its population in the age group of 15-59 years.
Currently only 27.8 % of the population is urbanised in India but this is expected to rise to 40.7 % by 2030. The cities are the engines of growth with agriculture’s contribution to GDP expected to fall from the present 20 % to about 10 % in 2015.
If we can harness these assets by providing better education and making them more employable, there is no reason why India should not become an economic super power.