Demographic Dividend: An Asset for India

Abstract

Demographic dividend is the acceleration in the economic growth which is brought about as a result of a fall in fertility and mortality rate in the population of a country. This leads to a subsequent change in the age structure of the population of a country. With the decline in the birth rate, the young dependent population of the country declines in relation to the working age population. Due to an increase in the productivity of working population, the per capita income of a country rises. It is the period during which the population of the country experience the age structure that is highly favourable for development. India has more than half of its population falls in the age group of working population which is young, i.e. 15 to 64 years and also the most potential and productive as a human resource. Hence, demographic dividend can be an asset if it is used reasonably and rationally. This will lead to expanding the labour force, the level of urbanisation and industrialisation and henceforth creating rapid development of the country. The expanded workforce increases the efficiency of the country’s economy. The main aim of the paper is to discuss the trend of demographic dividend with respect to population structure and composition in India and also to understand the existing governmental policies and programmes for promoting youth to benefit as demographic dividend for economic growth of the nation. For this study, population data from various sources such as Census Data of India and world population data for various years has been collected. The data is then tabulated, analysed and represented through line graph, bar graph and pyramids. There are certain challenges which India will face during this phase of demographic dividend which includes informal economy, low human capital, and even demography and unskilled labour. Various suggestions to combat these challenges have been suggested.