India's fertility rate hits 1.9, and it may age before it gets rich
India's total fertility rate has dropped to 1.9, below the 2.1 replacement level, per the Registrar General's SRS report. That puts it squarely on China's ageing path, but at a far lower per capita income, meaning pension, care and healthcare costs could bite before the wealth arrives. Economists say the window is finite: the working-age share keeps rising only until about 2041, so the next two decades decide whether jobs and skills convert the dividend into growth.