India's population set to surpass China

NEW DELHI — India is on its way to become the world's most populous country, overtaking China with almost 3 million more people by the middle of this year, data released on Wednesday by the United Nations showed.

Demographic data from the United Nations Population Fund's State of World Population Report 2023 estimates India's population at 1.4286 billion against 1.4257 billion for China.

The United States is a distant third, with an estimated population of 340 million, the data showed. The data reflects information available as of February.