Why in news?
World Population Day (11 July 2025) focused on “empowering youth to create the families they want”. India, with the largest youth population globally, used the occasion to assess how demographic potential can be converted into development capital.
India’s demographic potential
- With about 371 million people aged 15–29, India has the world’s largest youth cohort. The country’s demographic dividend is expected to last until around 2055.
- Proper investment in education, healthcare, skills and employment could boost India’s GDP by up to US$1 trillion by 2030, according to estimates by the World Bank and NITI Aayog.
- The youth advantage helps India offset ageing populations in countries like Japan and many European nations and positions it as a major supplier of skilled labour and innovation.
Challenges hindering youth empowerment
- Limited reproductive autonomy: Many young people, especially women, experience unintended pregnancies and lack access to contraceptive choices.
- Child marriage and teenage pregnancies: Nearly a quarter of Indian girls still marry before 18, and teenage pregnancy remains high despite declining trends.
- Low female labour force participation: Women’s participation hovers below 25 %, limiting economic independence and delaying empowerment.
- Socio‑cultural barriers: Gender norms, stigma around sexual and reproductive health rights and misinformation restrict youth agency.
- Poor access to services: Rural and marginalised areas often lack contraception, maternal care and reproductive health education.
Government and civil society initiatives
- Project Udaan (Rajasthan): Provided school incentives and contraceptive access, preventing thousands of child marriages and teenage pregnancies.
- Project Advika (Odisha): Empowered youth-led collectives to declare villages free of child marriage and trained adolescents in leadership and life skills.
- Project Manzil: Trained young women in government centres, leading to employment and delaying early marriages.
- Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and the National Adolescent Health Programme: National schemes that promote girls’ education, delay marriage and enhance adolescent health.
Way forward
- Guarantee universal access to sexual and reproductive health services, including contraception, safe abortion and infertility care.
- Expand girls’ secondary and tertiary education; evidence shows each additional year of schooling reduces the likelihood of child marriage.
- Reform skilling programmes to align training with jobs and ensure safe, gender‑friendly workspaces.
- Invest in supportive infrastructure such as affordable housing, childcare and safe transport to enable women’s participation.
- Run behavioural change campaigns to challenge harmful gender norms and engage men and boys as allies.
- Encourage state‑level innovations and local planning based on district‑specific demographics.