India's population pyramid, 2024 and 2050

A population pyramid shows how many people there are at each age. Men are on the left and women on the right. Young people sit at the bottom.

India's pyramid in 2024 is still wide at the base. The two widest bands are people aged 15 to 19 and 20 to 24, about 257 million people between them. That is more than the entire population of Pakistan.

From pyramid to column

By 2050 the shape changes. Fewer children are born each year, so the base narrows. The large cohorts born in the 1990s and 2000s move up into middle age. The widest bands in 2050 are people in their late thirties and forties.

The working age share barely moves. What changes is who depends on the workers. Today most dependants are children. By 2050 a much larger share will be older people.

Why it matters

Three things follow from this shape.

1. The jobs window is now. India's working age population will stay close to its peak share for the next two decades. East Asian economies that grew rich used this window to put young workers into productive jobs.
2. Schools will need fewer seats, hospitals more beds. The number of children aged 0 to 4 is projected to fall from about 114 million to 95 million by 2050. The number of people over 80 more than triples.
3. Women outlive men at older ages. Above age 75, women outnumber men in both years. Old age support, pensions and care will increasingly be needs of older women.

The 2050 outline is a projection. It depends on future birth and death rates. The broad shift is already locked in, though, because everyone who will be over 25 in 2050 has already been born.