Bridging the divide

In India, only 11.3 per cent children aged 6-23 months are receiving minimal adequate diet, an improvement from 9.6 per cent as in NFHS 4 (2015-16)

- VEENA S RAO

India's population has reached its demographic prime. While large parts of the world are aging, around 67.3 per cent of our population is between 15-59 years of age, and this demographic advantage of a young working population will persist for at least another three decades. Approximately 26 per cent of the population is below 14 years, and just 7 per cent is above the age of 65, as against ~17 per cent in the US and ~21 per cent in Europe. By 2030, India's working age population is projected to reach its highest level at 68.9 per cent. The median age of the population will be 28.4 years, with a dependency ratio of only 31.2 per cent. In absolute numbers, India will have 1.04 billion working age persons, constituting the largest workforce in the world.

Our demographic harvest certainly has large numbers but demographic strength does not lie in numbers alone. Large numbers can only translate into dividends through high productivity that drives wealth creation, not just by construction, but by high-tech production and manufacture, innovative information technology, new-age services with high value addition, R&D driven innovation, healthcare and life sciences, to name a few.