India’s population is projected to stabilise around 1.8 to 1.9 billion by 2080, driven by a declining total fertility rate (TFR), which currently stands below the replacement level at 1.9, an official said.

The country is undergoing a rapid demographic transition, with birth rates falling sharply over the past two decades. “In 2000, our TFR was 3.5. Today it is 1.9. This is a drastic decline,” Anil Chandran, general secretary of the Indian Association for the Study of Population (IASP), told PTI. He added that India’s population is expected to peak at 1.8–1.9 billion by 2080, remaining below two billion, reported news agency PTI.