Socio-economic Issues in India - Overpopulation

Overpopulation

Further information: Family planning in India and Demographics of India

India suffers from the problem of overpopulation. The population of India is very high at an estimated 1.2 billion. Though India ranks second in population, it ranks 33 in terms of population density below countries such as The Netherlands, South Korea and Japan. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, had implemented a forced sterilization programme in the early 1970s but the programme failed. Officially, men with two children or more were required to be sterilised, but many unmarried young men, political opponents and ignorant, poor men were also believed to have been affected by this pogramme. This program is still remembered and regretted in India, and is blamed for creating a public aversion to family planning, which hampered Government programmes for decades.