It will be easier for students to get admission to premier higher educational institutions of the country in 2040 than it is today, the Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian says.
He based his statement on an Economic Survey finding that India is set to witness a sharp slowdown in population growth in the next two decades due to a steady decline in Total Fertility Rate (TFR).
"It will surprise many readers to learn that the population in the 0-19 age bracket had already peaked due to the sharp decline in the fertility rates across the country. So getting into Delhi University or IITs isn't going to be tougher two decades from now," Chief Economic Adviser Krishnamurthy Subramanian said in an official video.
According to the survey, India’s population at the national level will begin ageing significantly a decade from now. The share of India’s young (0-19 years) population has already started to decline and is projected to drop from as high as 41 per cent in 2011 to 25 per cent by 2041. This obviously will result in lesser competition for seats in the best educational institutions across the country.
"Contrary to popular perception many states need to pay greater attention to merging schools to make them viable rather than building new ones," the Chief Economic Advisor went on to state.
All major states are projected to witness a decline in the share of the young in their population and an increase in the number of the elderly over the next two decades. States ahead in the demographic transition, such as Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab and most of the southern states, would have less than one-fourth of the population under the age of 20, but about one-fifth or more population over the age of 59 by 2041.