As per the available data, the total population of India at the end of 1973 was about 60.69 crore (606.69 million). The population growth was highest at about 2.36 % in 1974. ;At the growth rate of 2.36 % in 1974, 1.43 crore people were added in one year to the population of India.

In the year 2021 the total population of India had reached to about 140 crores.

In the last few years, the population growth rate remained between 1.0% and 0.8%. Taking the conservative growth rate of 0.8 %, about 1.12 crore people were added in the year 2022. 

Although the population growth rate has decreased since its maximum count in 1974, the total yearly increase of population is still very high. It hampers the aspiration of individual citizens of the country and economic growth of the country as well.

Every individual citizen of India aspires for the wellbeing of self and his/her family members. Wellbeing of an individual and his/her family depends on the resources of his/her earning and the expenditure incurred in livelihood. If the earning is sufficient enough to cope up with the expenditure, the individual will prosper and can think of more resources for earning and would gradually lead a better life and can think of the development of the country. However, if the earning is not sufficient enough to sustain the daily livelihood, he/she will struggle in managing the daily expenditure for self and family members and cannot prosper. The main reason for such struggle is because of the larger size of families.

There are many reasons for the increasing population in India. First and foremost is the already existing count of population which is far more than the existing resources of the country. Besides the decrease of death rate due to improved medical facilities, the other prime reasons for population growth are illiteracy and social taboo.

The illiterate people do not understand and follow the family planning initiatives of the government. They have a belief that “the children are god’s blessings” and also have the misconception that having a large family they can send their children to work and thus increase their income resources. They are also bound by social taboo which also restricts them to accept/ adopt family planning norms.

Similarly, many literate people also do not follow the family planning norms due to different types of social taboo prevailing in different communities.

As already mentioned, more than 1.12 crore (11.2 million) people are being added every year, which is more than the population of many of the developed countries in the world. It is obvious that this addition of population every year puts pressure on the resources available in the country and slows down economic development and overall development of our country.

It is also to mention here that from 1974 onwards efforts had been made by the governments ruling in center and state levels by launching programs of social awareness among people and providing incentives in family planning etc. Due to such efforts the growth rate has come down from 2.36 to 0.8 % in the last few decades. But a lot more is to be done to further reduce the yearly population growth rate.

Since our total population is very large, in spite of a reduced growth rate in the last two-three decades, the yearly count of population growth is still very high. This needs a serious thinking of the citizens of India and also the governments ruling at center and different states. Programs of social awareness need to be launched at war footing in the country especially for the poor and illiterate people who are not aware of the adverse effects of burgeoning population and also amongst the communities and people bound by their social taboo.

A statistical study/ analysis is also needed to define/bring down the growth rate of population to a level which would be beneficial not only in enhancing the wellbeing of every citizen of India but also all-round development of the country and also would not create imbalance between old and young people counts causing social problems in future.

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