New Delhi: India has become the world’s most populous country overtaking China, data released by the United Nations on Wednesday showed.
India’s population is 142.86 crore against China’s 142.57 crore, NDTV reported citing the UN reports.
This is the first time that India has topped the UN list of most populous countries since it started collecting population data in 1950.
The number of people in China shrank last year for the first time since 1960, when millions starved to death under the disastrous agricultural policies of former leader Mao Zedong.
India has no recent official data on how many people it has because it has not conducted a census since 2011.
India’s once in a decade census was due to be held in 2021 but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
