China's historic population decline raises possibility that India has already overtaken China in size

A crowd of people in New Delhi, India (Credit: Anindito Mukherjee—Getty Images))

On Tuesday, Chinese authorities announced that the country’s population declined for the first time in decades, an event that came earlier than expected thanks to a COVID-era baby bust.

The announcement increases the chance that another long-expected demographic shift may have already happened: India overtaking China as the world’s most populous country.