![]() There was a time when India and China were on the same path, population wise. “I think it’s very interesting to see the parallel road that could have been taken, because India also had a period of forced sterilisation under Indira Gandhi. “There’s a lot of sympathy to the idea of controlling overwhelming population growth, but at the same time India also knows that some of these repercussions are being felt.” “India has some similar issues to China,” she said. ![]() Mei Fong, the author of One Child, a history of the policy that led to China’s rapid ageing, nonetheless sees historical parallels between China and India, where we met at the Jaipur Literature Festival. Like China, India is home to over 1.3 billion people, but it has a lower median age, higher fertility rate, and is entering a period described as a “ demographic dividend”. As China quickly ages, it faces a calamitous shortage of workers to support the older generation. ![]() Despite its crowded streets, cramped housing, and depleted environment, the world’s most populous nation wants more people. ![]()
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