The median age in India is about 26 years old, and about 70 percent of India's population is less than 35 years old. A little more than 5 percent of Indians are older than 65, compared with 12 percent of the U.S. population and 21 percent of the Japanese population. By 2020, the median age in India is projected to be about 28, which will be 17 years younger than the projected median age in the United States and 21 years younger than the projected median age in Japan. Ten years after that time, India will account for 20 percent of the total global population.
More facts about young populations:
- Other countries that have very young populations include Laos, Guatemala and Bangladesh, with median ages of 21, 20 and 23 years, respectively. More than 20 countries in Africa have median ages of less than 20 years old. Chad, Mali, Niger and Uganda all have median ages of about 15.
- Eighteen out of the 25 countries that have the youngest populations have had major civil conflicts since the mid-1990s.
- More than 100 countries have a median age of about 25 or less.