World population day

Why in news?

• July 11 has been designated by the United Nations as World Population Day.
• This year the theme is access to family planning.

What is population dynamics?

• Population dynamics is study of the size and age composition of populations as dynamical systems, and the biological and environmental processes driving them (such as birth and death rates, and by immigration and emigration).
• Example scenarios are ageing populations, population growth, or population decline.

Why governments need to monitor their population?

• For proper administration of masses.
• For the direct benefit transfers.
• For creating a stable economic output.
• For calculating the indexes.
• For infrastructure developments.
• For health care policies.

What is the status of Indian population?

• There is falling birth rates and only slowly rising longevity.
• India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35.
• Demographic dividend with high working class population.
• The dependency ratio in Indian population is 0.4.
• Women have high fertility rate and child bearing women population is high in India.
• India has a closed population where refugee migration ratio is less, when compared with globe.

What are the issues with Indian population?

• The child bearing decisions are not within the hands of the women, rather it is with the family setup.
• There are large number of young people but with less skills.
• Quest for power by different communities and sects increases the death rate in different parts of the nation.
• Increasing population of non-communicable diseases like diabetes, heart attack, cancer etc.
• The health care support is not reached to the people of the lower level of the society.

How it can be addressed?

• Higher investment capital needed when there is a higher growth in population.
• Investment in different areas of civil society is needed.
• Women should be aware that it is the right to make their own childbearing decisions.
• National healthcare policies are needed to address the new age diseases.
• Proper population dynamics institutions and dedicated departments will help to understand better about Indian population.

Quick facts

Population related terminologies

• Dependency Ratio - Ratio of persons in the ages defined as dependent (under 15 years and over 64 years) to persons in the ages defined as economically productive (15-64 years) in a population.
• Childbearing Years - The reproductive age span of women, assumed for statistical purposes to be 15-44 or 15-49 years of age.
• Closed population - A population with no migratory flow either in or out, so that changes in population size occur only through births and deaths.
• Demographic Transition - The historical shift of birth and death rates from high to low levels in a population.

Source: The Hindu