Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday stressed on the need for awareness on population explosion.

Highlighting the problem of over population, PM Modi urged the nation on the need to have greater discussion and awareness on population control.

“We have to think can we do justice to the aspirations of our children,” he said in his sixth Independence Day address from the Red Fort.

“Population explosion will cause many problems for our future generations. But there is a vigilant section of public which stops to think, before bringing a child to the world, whether they can do justice to the child, give them all that she or he wants. They have a small family and express their patriotism to the country. Let’s learn from them. There is need of social awareness,” the Prime Minister Modi said.

“In the 21st century, we as citizens of this country need to understand that development and prosperity begin only when individuals are healthy and resourceful. As there are so many illnesses around, efforts cannot just be at the government level. Everyone has to contribute,” he added.

Modi also praised those going for smaller families saying that they were observing a form of patriotism.

“Those who follow the policy of small family also contribute to the development of the nation, it is also a form of patriotism.”

India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country around 2027, according to a UN report.

The country is expected to nearly 273 million people between now and 2050 and will remain the most populated country through the end of the current century.

“World’s population is expected to increase by two billion people in the next 30 years, from 7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050,” the report titled ‘The World Population Prospects 2019: Highlights’, published by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs said.

The report further stated that more than half of the projected increase in the global population up to 2050 will be concentrated in just nine countries, led by India and followed by Nigeria, Pakistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Indonesia, Egypt and the US.

Previously, UN reports had predicted that India will surpass China as the world’s most populous country as early as 2022.

China, with 1.43 billion people in 2019, and India, with 1.37 billion, have long been the two most populous countries of the world, comprising 19 and 18 per cent, respectively, of the global total in 2019. They are followed by the United States of America, with 329 million in 2019, and Indonesia, with 271 million, PTI quoted a 2019 report.