Population Dynamics and Sustainable Development in India

India is undergoing a decisive demographic transition in which continued population increase coexists with below-replacement fertility, a large working-age population, rapid urbanisation and the beginnings of population ageing. This paper examines how these changes condition India’s prospects for sustainable development. It uses a descriptive-analytical, secondary-data research design drawing on the Sample Registration System (SRS) 2024, National Family Health Survey-5, Periodic Labour Force Survey 2025, United Nations World Population Prospects 2024, NITI Aayog’s SDG India Index 2023–24, UNDP and UNFPA reports, World Bank indicators and official water-resource assessments. The evidence shows a clear demographic transition: India’s total fertility rate was 1.9 in SRS 2024, the crude birth rate was 18.3 per thousand, and infant mortality fell to 24 per thousand live births, while UNFPA reported a 2025 population of about 1.464 billion. At the same time, the working-age population remains large, but labour-market absorption, especially for women, is incomplete, and the share of older persons is projected to rise rapidly. Urbanisation, water stress, regional demographic divergence and unequal human-capital outcomes further complicate the relationship between demography and sustainability. The paper argues that population dynamics are neither an automatic dividend nor an inevitable environmental burden. Their developmental effect depends on investments in health, education, productive employment, gender equality, resilient cities, social protection and resource efficiency. A sustainable demographic strategy for India therefore requires differentiated, life-course and region-sensitive policies rather than a uniform population-control approach.