From the year 1995 to 2015, China’s demographic dividend boosted the country’s economy multifold. Though a booming increase for more than 2 decades, the growth eventually slowed down as the Chinese approached, what experts call, demographic ageing. 

Whether a country’s economy is in question or its booming/declining population, the actual change – which was propelled by a change in the age structure of the country – is visible when we take into account the overall demographic dividend. 

China to India: Still Developing After All The Years? 

After China, India was touted to become the world’s next big developed economy. The primary reason for this belief was the existing young population of the country, which was far better than what China can afford since the late 2015s. 

In 2018, the dependent population was finally dwarfed by those in the working population. Reports suggested that the current working population of India (since 2018) is expected to last for 37 more years, i.e., until 2055. 

Contradictions – Education & Not Just Population Will Help

Child education statistics in the country have dwindled, left and right, since 2014 and have hampered India’s hopes with its young and dynamic working population. 

Education, not the country’s age-structure, will bring a better demographic dividend

While, sometimes, demographic change is narrowly viewed as only referring to changing age structure, both common usage by the public and authoritative scientific definitions have a broader view that includes changes with respect to several demographic dimensions.

In India – surely there’s a boom in the working population, which has dwarfed their dependent counterparts but that’s not it. These people, in order to bolster the economy, have to secure their rights, take the chance given to them, and ultimately find work to contribute to the country’s economy. 

This takes time. The process of contributing to the country’s economy starts with the introduction & provision of basic education. So it is vital to understand that merely improving the country’s infrastructure is not enough – one has to invest in the child education standards alongside. 

Child Education In India – A Myth Busted

Talking statistics, the overall literacy rate of the world’s second-largest democracy stands at 65.38% with 75.85% males and 54.16% females securing the right to be called educated. 

But to understand the scope of India’s demographic dividend in the years to come, we must focus extensively on kids between the age of 6 to 14. 

Here we come across a mind-numbing statistic, which might affect our demographic dividend in the next two to three decades. 

According to official statistics, out of the 193 million children (between the age of 6 to 14), a staggering 8.1 million children were out of school in the year 2010. The number has only increased in the last decade.