One of the major problems that face the world today is the rapid growth of the population. Until about 800 AD the world’s population stayed below 200 million. Since then it has risen dramatically. The rise has been the greatest in the 20th century. The population has risen to about 6 billion at present. It is three times as large as it was in 1960. It is not the actual population, but its rate of increase that is a cause of alarm. It was about 7.6 billion in 2018, and by 2030, it would be about 8.6 billion. Such a large population is already consuming as many resources as can be provided by two Earths. The increasing population means the need for more food, more schools, more houses, more civic facilities, more hospitals, and more of everything else. India is the second-most populous country in the world after China and is likely to become the most populous country in not many years. With over 1.25 billion population, India’s population is almost three times as large as it was in 1950. It is rising by about 1.9 % per year, and in consequence, every year an extra 26 million people have to be provided for. The government is taking only half-hearted measures to check the population growth. The growth of population in India has created a large number of problems. One of the greatest problems created by it is the widening gulf between the rich and the poor. Most of the children are born in poor rural families. The burden on land increases by this, so the people migrate to cities for jobs. There they live in slums which are the centers of crimes, smuggling, and prostitution. The people lose their identity and become a part of all these evils. Illiteracy increases in proportion to the rise in population. According to a World Bank Report, almost half of the illiterate people in the world live in India.
