Demographic Dividend in India: A Synoptic View

The term “Demographic Dividend” is a much talked about subject today. In India, it has also been a cynosure of discussion. It is a population bulge in the working age category and occurs when a falling birth rate changes the age distribution of a population. It is a rise in the rate of economic growth due to a rising share of the working age population. Demographic dividend is essentially due to two factors – declining birth rate and improvement in life expectancy. The pertinent question is whether India will be able to reap the benefits of demographic dividend through increasing its employability and quality of labour force. It is known that demographic dividend does not last long. India is passing through a phase of unprecedented demographic changes. These demographic changes are likely to contribute to a substantially increased labour force in the country. The census projection report shows that the proportion of working age population between 15 and 59 years is likely to increase from approximate 58% in 2001 to more than 64% by 2021. Such a trend would make India one of the youngest nations in the world. So one of the India’s competitive advantages is its demographic dividend. This demographic dividend provides India great opportunity but it also poses a great challenge. It will benefit India if our population is healthy, educated and appropriately skilled. In this backdrop, an attempt has been made in this paper to (a) discuss about the conceptual understanding of demographic dividend, demographic transition and demographic windows of opportunity; (b) show how demographic dividend helps a country like ours; (c) examine whether India will be able to garner demographic dividend; (d) discuss the policies and strategies taken by the Government of India in order to reap the benefits of demographic dividend; and (e) make concluding remarks.