There are new arrivals in India at the rate of 34 a minute. At a population of 1.3 billion today, we will overtake China by 2022 and keep growing until we peak at 1.7 billion and finally plateau in 2050.
An urban Indian will take 50 years to consume the equivalent of an Olympic-sized swimming pool of water, while a rural Indian will have to live 170 years to do the same. Our average per capita availability of water has drastically reduced since independence, from over 5,000 to 1,500 cubic metres of water.
On the bright side, we have overtaken China in the sale of two-wheelers and designer underwear will soon be big business.
Condom sales and vasectomy rates have both fallen 52 percent and 73 percent, between 2008-2016, leaving women to deal with birth control. Emergency pills have doubled up as the proxy contraceptive.
(This story was first published on 11 July 2017 and has been reposted from The Quint's archives to mark World Population Day.)
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