According to the U.N.'s World Population Dashboard, China still had slightly more people than India at the end of 2022: 1.4485 billion, compared to India's 1.4066 billion. But National Public Radio reports that China's population has stabilized and is set to shrink, while India's is still growing — pretty fast.

More babies are born each year in India than any other country in the world. (The U.N. estimates more than 24 million annually, but the true number is likely higher because many births never get registered.) And more of them are born in burgeoning megacities like Mumbai — with a population of more than 22 million — than ever before.

India celebrated its 75th birthday in 2022. Since 1947, India has transformed from a subcontinent impoverished by exploitation by the British East India Company, and then by British colonial rule, to an Asian regional power with big urban centers of technology, innovation, constant construction and growth.