Increase in life expectancy led to rise in Indian population: Expert

Tribune News Service

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Chandigarh, July 11

Emeritus Professor Tim Dyson, London School of Economics and Political Science, today said in the post-Independence period in India, an increase in life expectancy and decline in infant mortality led to a significant rise in the population.

He delivered a lecture online on the occasion of World Population Day at the Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) here today.

Prof Dyson analysed the evolution of Indian population from sixty to eighty thousand years ago to present day. He highlighted the emergence of the subcontinent’s first towns Mohenjodaro and Harappa and specified that the Indus Valley Civilisation was considered to be the most populous of the ancient world.

He outlined the prevalence of high urban infant mortality rate peaking up to 380 per 1,000 during the Muslim rule. He traced the impact of several epidemics and numerous famines on Indian population and suggested that black deaths did not affect India in a big way as many would presume.

He said the mortality declined during 1947-52 and improved subsequently in the 1950s and 1960s. Interestingly, at least as gauged by the rise in life expectancy, the Indian population grew probably faster in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, than it was in subsequent decades, he added.

“There is no simple relationship between the rate of economic growth and the rate of improvement in life expectation,” he said. He ended his talk with giving his population projections for India for the year 2051 at 1,579 million.

Earlier in the day, several faculty members of the CRRID took part in awareness drive and distributed free masks among disadvantaged sections.