India’s population has climbed to approximately 1.46 billion in 2025, firmly maintaining its status as the most populous nation on Earth, according to a new UN demographic report. However, the report raises significant demographic concerns: India’s total fertility rate (TFR) has fallen below the critical replacement threshold of roughly 2.1 births per woman, signaling a pivotal shift in the nation’s long-term growth trajectory.
Despite crossing the historic population milestone, the declining fertility rate reflects improved education, healthcare, and family‑planning access. But it also highlights a troubling gap: many families are unable to meet their reproductive goals due to unmet needs—echoing the report’s call “to shift from panic over falling fertility to addressing unmet reproductive goals”.
UN projections show India’s population may peak as high as 1.7 billion by the 2060s before entering a gradual decline. This demographic window offers both opportunity and challenge: a growing workforce could fuel economic growth, but only if matched by investments in education, job creation, and gender equality.
Experts warn that unless India addresses the causes behind suppressed fertility—such as rising living costs, job insecurity, and urban housing shortages, factors identified as a “doom loop” in global fertility trends—it risks entering a period of aging population without adequate support systems
