The breakthrough will take place on April 14, there will already be 1,425,775,850 Indians, or almost one in six people will live in India by then, according to the UN. The population of this country has been increasing rapidly in recent times. Just in May 2000, Astha Arora, India’s billionth woman, was born in New Delhi. Today, she is a nurse in a hospital in the capital, one of the most polluted cities in the world. The dream of becoming a doctor Astha had to give up because her parents could not afford her studies. Although after the birth of the girl, the then Minister of Health promised her lifelong education, health care and free train tickets, the only support came from the United Nations fund.

Astha, now 22, represents the dominant group in an exceptionally young society – the average age on the Ganges is 28. This youth was supposed to be an asset in the global economic race, but it has turned into ballast. There are no jobs (in 2050, one in six people of working age in the world will live in India), no smart cities, no new universities and no manufacturing boom. However, the ambitions are enormous and several thousand applications have been submitted by people with higher education for a lower level position. Less than 11% work. young graduates. Predictions that India will conquer the world with an army of well-educated workers can therefore be dismissed. Because even if the country is still on an upward demographic trend, the trend is already changing.

The fertility rate on the Ganges is falling, according to the National Family Health Survey 2017-22. Thirty years ago, three or four children were the norm. In 2020, Indian women only gave birth to two children on average. This is not enough to sustain a population. The changes are the result of popularization, especially among women, of knowledge about contraception and sexual life.

Original Title: Every Sixth