Health Minister Azad cites China's example to intensify check on population explosion

Indians must check the nation's increasing population by emulating China's efforts in controlling its population, said Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad on the occasion of World's Population Day.

Azad was speaking after participating in a march with school children to mark the World Population Day here.

Azad said India is still far away from its goal of attaining stable population growth.

"Only China has a greater population than our country. But they have tried to keep the population under control. So, our citizens will also have to work a lot in this direction," Azad said.

According to United Nations, India is world's second fastest population growing country.

India's total population now stands at 1.21 billion, which is 17.7 per cent more than the last decade.

A latest UN report, released on June 13, said global population could reach nearly 11 billion by the end of this century.

This year United Nations has spotlighted the issue of adolescent pregnancy that was leading to an over-population.

UN Population Fund (UNFPA) reports say that about 16 million girls under age 18 give birth each year, and another 3.2 million undergo unsafe abortions.