Number of older Indians to grow, younger to slow by 2035

NEW DELHI: India's population is likely to grow by 26 per cent in 2036 from the last census year of 2011 and the percentage of population above 60 years of age will almost double while there will be a decline in the number in the younger age groups, according to the initial findings of the government's technical group on population projections.

Findings of the technical group, constituted by the National Commission on Population, were shared in Parliament recently in reply to a question. 

"This is the initial draft with initial projections. When all the figures are gathered, another draft shall be prepared. Committees are working on it," a senior officer from the committee, which met in May, told IANS. 

The meeting was chaired by Vivek Joshi, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, and inaugurated by Manoj Jhalani, Additional Secretary and mission director National Health Mission. 

According to the findings, India's population will grow from 1,211 million in 2011 to 1,536 million in 2035, a jump of 26.8 per cent. 

Another set of findings said the percentage of population in the age group of above 60 will grow from 8.6 to 15.4 per cent.

The percentage of population in the age group of 25-29 years will come down from 19.0 to 15.0 per cent. The sharpest fall will be in the percentage of population below 15 years from 30.9 to 17 per cent. 

The percentage of population in productive age group of 15 to 59 years will increase marginally from 60.5 to 66.7.

The total fertility rate of 2.4 in 2011-15 will come down to 1.65 in 2031-35. The infant mortality rate is also expected to come down from 43 in 2011-15 to 30.

The crude birth rate is predicted to come down to 12.0 from 19.8.

The urban population is projected to grow by 25 per cent. — IANS