Impact of Overpopulation on Indian Economy

Abstract

Population is the resource of labour force. The larger the size of population, the larger will be the labour force. Labour alone cannot produce anything. If other resources required for production are and available in sufficient quantity then a labour force is productive assets for a country. If other resources are not available in sufficient quantities, then large labour force can become an obstruction to faster economic growth. Some countries particularly the developing countries have fast growth rate of population.  India is the second most populated country in the world with the overall share of 17.70 %. India is projected to be the world’s most populous country by 2024. Its population growth rate is 1.13%, ranking 112th in the world in 2017. Population is the means as well as ends of economic development. They are an asset if in adequate strength and prove to be a liability if excess in strength. Population has crossed the optimum limit in India and has become a liability. So problem of population explosion in India has proved to be a big hindrance in the success of economic planning and development. The researcher found that there exists a significant correlation between the population and GDP of India. That is population has no significant impact on the inflation of India. Inflation may be affected due to some other factors. The research and found us that there is no significant negative impact of population growth on the GDP growth of India and the fact is that as the population increases so does the GDP. Although overpopulation has not affected the GDP and infect GDP of India has grown very fast from last two decades. India is now 3rd largest economy with GDP (PPP) $10.40 trillion but due to population explosion still it is ranked 116th country in terms of per capital income and 130th position in terms of HDI. Population explosion is adversely affecting the standard of living. Overpopulation creates the problems like unemployment, shortage of food, low per capita income, problem of capital formation, high pressure, social problems, economic insecurity, social insecurity, increases pressure on land and environment degradation. This paper intends to highlight how the fast growth of population affects the economic development of the country.