The population puzzle: what Indians feel

With one foot in tradition and the other in modernity, young Indians are leading several demographic shifts that will define the next phase of change in the world’s most populous country, finds the latest round of the YouGov-Mint-CPR survey.

- Nandita Venkatesan , Tanay Sukumar , Pragya Srivastava

That’s why young Indians are largely unsure whether to rejoice or bemoan India becoming the most populous country, even at a time of zealous nationalism, found our latest survey of urban India, whose results were released this Independence Day. When asked whether they were proud or embarrassed, a sizable 43% picked neither. The share of “neutral" responses was similar even when asked whether the high population was a problem or an opportunity.

But that indifference is an aberration. For all it matters, young Indians are on task despite what they feel about India’s newfound status, the survey suggests. With one foot in tradition, and the other in modernity, they are leading several demographic shifts that will set the stage for the next phase of change, both in the economy and the society. Read on.

The ‘dividend’ dilemma

India surpassed China as the most populous country last month, according to the United Nations. It was against this backdrop that Mint conducted the 10th round of its biannual survey in June, in association with survey partner YouGov India and the Delhi-based think tank Centre for Policy Research (CPR). Most of our respondents (83%) were born after 1980. The sample of 10,072 netizens was spread across more than 200 cities and towns.