Demographics: India
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Revision as of 12:04, 18 March 2015
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. Readers will be able to edit existing articles and post new articles directly |
Youth edge
Youth edge not an Indian monopoly
Even Pak, Nepal Have Lower Average Age
Rema Nagarajan | TIG 12/03/2007
New Delhi: Much has been made of India’s large young population. Nearly 70% of India’s population is less than 35 years of age and reams have been written about how young India is. Yet, India is nowhere near having the lowest median age in the world.
The list of countries with the lowest median age is dominated almost entirely by African nations, although it is for all the wrong reasons. A look at life expectancy in most of the African nations provides a clue to why they are the youngest countries.
Very high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in many African countries, particularly in the south, seems to be taking a heavy toll. Few African countries have an average life expectancy beyond 50 years. In fact, of the 10 countries that form the southernmost part of the African mainland, seven have an average life expectancy of 40 years or less. In the case of Swaziland, it’s as low as 32.6 years.
The others have a life expectancy marginally above 40 years — Namibia tops with 43.4. With a few among the population living beyond their 40s, it’s no wonder that the median age of these countries are the lowest in the world — ranging from 15 years in Uganda to 18.6 in Rwanda.
In fact, 41 of the 50 youngest countries are African. But again, in most cases, this is essentially due to very low life expectancy. Having a young population because most die before they are even middle-aged cannot be an advantage, so it’s better to compare countries which have life expectancy of at least 60 years.
Even by this yardstick, however, India is nowhere near being the youngest nation. Of the 215 nations for which data on both median age and life expectancy is available, there are 47 which have a life expectancy of above 60 and a median age lower than India’s 24.9 years.
Many of these are very small nations like Sao Tome and Principe or Mayotte, but the list includes several not-so-small countries like Oman, Iraq, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Cambodia, Syria and Nicaragua — all with median ages ranging from 19 to 21 years.
2011: The average age of Indian states
India’s median age is much above Bangladesh’s 22.2 or Egypt’s 24. In fact, most countries in West Asia and Central America figure in the list of countries with lower median ages than India, and reasonably high life expectancy.
