BS Number Wise: How many Indians? Census suspense beyond population size

Is the country getting older; how is the labour force faring: important questions about demographics await answers

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi rode to power in 2014, and up until 2017 or so, his speeches addressed “savaso crore deshvaasi” (1.25 billion fellow citizens). While inaugurating a road project in March 2019, he said he had “earned the trust of 1.3 billion Indians”. In 2021, he told the Indian Olympics contingent headed to Tokyo they had the “best wishes of 1.35 billion Indians”.

The steady rise in the number for India’s population in his speeches is no anomaly: Modi updates himself to quote a figure that is a bit more correct than before.

Population data, especially for districts