Currently, China with a population of 1.41 billion and India with 1.34 billion remain the two most populous countries, comprising 19 percent and 18 percent of the total global population, respectively, according to a UN report. And in about seven years, or around 2024, India’s population is expected to surpass that of China.

According to the UN estimates, after 2024 India’s population is projected to continue growing for several decades to around 1.5 billion in 2030 and approaching 1.66 billion in 2050, while the population of China is projected to remain stable until the 2030s, after which it may report a slow decline.

Other populous Asian countries are Indonesia (258 million), Pakistan

(189 million), Bangladesh (161 million), Japan (127 million) and the Philippines (101 million), data showed.