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Human Population {g
le

Change and the * fltr

Envi ronment '. t*k*.

INDIA'S POPULATION PRESsUREs

] ndia is the world's second rnost populous nation, with I

-!L a nrid-201 1 population af 1 "24 billion. ln ihe i 950s,

it became the first country to establish government- '€""
.:ii;!":
_ .,,,t :

sponsored family planning. lndia did not experience

immediate results from its efforts to control population {
growth, in part because of the diverse cuitures, religions,
and cusloms in dif{erent regions rF
of the country" lndians speak 15 main languages and more
lhan 700 dialects, which makes communicating
a program of family planning edueation dif{icult.
ln recent years, lndia has attempted to integrate
economic developrnent and family planning projects.
Adull literacy and population
education programs have 80

co 7n
been combined. l\4ultimedia o
tr
advertisements and education E- 4.t.) Contraceptive use 60 6e
-c(E =y
promote voluntary birth v>
J_5 50 EB
EO
control, and contraceptives $-
-ofi 3.0 4a c-P
are more available. lndia has -o
2.3 en oo
-,c Number of
er-nphasized lhat improving
(65 2.4 children 2a 5e
O-
health services lowers infant c) born
0)
rv o_
and child mortality rates. These
efforts have had an effect: The
1.0 0
.r-" .r"-" .r." .-." ,ooo r"""zofo$
average number of children
Year
born per lndian woman Based on data from World Bank World Developmenl lndicators.
declined from 4.7 in 1980 to 2.6
in2O11(see graph).
Despite these gains, populalion pressure has
contributed to the deterioration of lndia's environment in
the past few decades, and 76 percent of lndians iive below
the official poverty level (less than US $2 a day). lndia's
large population exacerbates its poverty, environmentai
,+
degradation, and economic underdevelopmenl.

B.rLi\e(r I985.:' li -'00!, 'vl,: u.:: o,

the change ir: contracepti'r* use?
Lhe ciian,:te irr the birth rate? grophingoctivily