Demographics of India are amazingly diverse. The population of India is approximately 1.13 billion people (estimate for March 10, 2008) and comprises of approximately one-sixth of the world's population. Pertaining to India’s approximately 2000 ethnic groups and every major religion represented, as are four major families of languages (Indo-European, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman languages). The complexity is lent by the great variation that occurs across the population on social parameters such as income and education.

India holds about 2.4% of the world’s land area and supports over 17.5% of the world’s population. India has comparably more area than many other countries expect a very few example such as United States, and more water than any other country except Canada and United States. According to the census figure of 2001, 72.22% of the people live in more than 550,000 villages, and the remainder in 5161 (census 2001) towns and cities.

According to the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), the next half century will see varied swings in population sizes. The organization says that at present about 99% of all population increase is a result of developing and under-developed countries. Additionally, India is expected to grow from 1.08bn to 1.63bn people, overtaking China, which is forecast to reach 1.44bn from 1.3bn currently. However, US maintain its position on number three according to the report, growing from 420m from 294m people.

Over here the question arises, what happened to the population policy of India? Why does it failed and what are the reasons that resulted in this mammoth population explosion in India? Following are some findings that may answer these questions:

Focus on family planning ignored other influences on birthrate- As per many health specialists in India, Population policy is more than just family planning. There are several “macro-economic forces shaping the enabling conditions necessary for health and family planning”. In compliance with the National Population Policy, 2000, it is important to understand how are the issues of livelihood, poverty, inequality, hunger and ill health reflected in NPP?

Better Health- People had long life due to improved nutrition and the deathrate declined faster as compared to the birthrate did. Similarly, life expectancy at birth rose from 32 in 1947 to 63 in 1998. The Infant Mortality Rate fell from 200/1,000 live births in the mid-1940s to 72/1,000 in 1998.

High infant mortality rate- Although the IMR has almost reduced to 50% in past 50 years, it is still significantly higher in developed countries as well as countries like Sri Lanka, Cuba and China. Several couples have large families as insurance against multiple infant and child deaths.

Some states did better- The population planning policy got success in states such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu, where fertility has dropped sharply (TFR 1.8, or below replacement level, in Kerala, and 2.2 in Tamil Nadu). On the otherhand states such as Uttar Pradesh (TFR 5.1), Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan (4.6) and Bihar (4.4) had high growth rates.

A built-in impetus- As per the figures thirty six percent of the population is in the reproductive age group and obviously this ratio is going to go up before it comes down. Even if the people in these families have less number of members, the sheer numbers of next generation will result in further swelling of the population before it starts shrinking in future.

Unmet need for contraception- National Population Policy 2000 notes that only 44% of India’s 168 million couples in the reproductive age group use effective contraception solutions. Large proportion of remaining people may require contraception but do not have access to it. Reproductive health and basic health infrastructure and allied services are often unsuccessful in reaching villages.

Child marriages- One out of two girls marry before they turn 18, which is the minimum legal age of marriage and many of them start childbearing almost immediately, along with second and third children following at intervals of less than 24 months- which in turn reduces fetus chances of survival.

Early marriages force girls to leave school early, just after 5th grade and they are forced by their in-laws to start their families soon after that. They live in poor health and economic condition, where their goal is to survive.

Economics is not the ideal answer to the problem, India supports the idea as we have one of the world’s best performing economies yet our family planning program has turned out to be a total failure. Additionally Global warming, the ozone holes, rain forest destruction, the "greenhouse effect", pollution, weather breakdown, and natural disasters are only symptoms of this already deadly giant.

Although, even the developed countries are overpopulated, but India lags behind in terms of education, as only half the population is literate. The reason behind this condition of third world countries is because they have no funding for birth control.