With the world’s population having crossed the eight billion mark, looking at the macros is all but natural. However, there has to be an equal focus on the micro-vulnerable groups, key populations and individuals on the fringes. We must endeavour to ensure that the promise of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICDP) is kept, and that every person gets the right to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health, free from coercion, discrimination and violence.
This year, the United Nations has announced its theme for World Population Day as “Empowering young people to create the families they want in a fair and hopeful world”. It highlights the ICDP’s special focus on youth, by affirming their right to accurate information, education and services in order to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. It also reflects a simple but pressing need: of bringing youth to the centre when envisioning the future, ensuring their freedom of choice and opportunities.
Home to the largest youth population
UNICEF reports there being 371 million youth in the age group of 15 to 29 years in India, making it the world’s largest youth population. This is a number that stretches existing resources and systems. But with the right investments in education, skills and also access to health, nutrition, and family planning services, it can become a powerful driver of national progress. Unleashing this youth potential in India could boost its GDP by up to $1 trillion by 2030, unlocking a demographic divide as projected by the World Bank and NITI Aayog, while significantly reducing unemployment and improving social outcomes.
India has made significant strides with initiatives such as ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ and the National Adolescent Health Programme, reducing child marriage and adolescent fertility rates. Yet, there is still room to do more as a nation in order to address persistent challenges such as limited reproductive autonomy, socio-cultural barriers and gender inequality. These continue to restrict many young people (especially young women) from realising their true potential.
For instance, the prevalence of child marriages in India has reduced by half since 2006, but is still reported at 23.3% (National Family Health Survey-5, 2019-21). Further, teenage childbearing among women in the age group of 15 to 19 years was pegged at 7% nationally. But in some States, the rate was reported to be more than double, highlighting stark regional disparities (National Family Health Survey-5). In addition, the recently published State of World Population Report 2025 by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) underscores the lack of reproductive autonomy and the crisis of fertility aspirations, particularly among women. More than a third of Indian adults (36%) face unintended pregnancies, while another 30% reported unmet reproductive goals, i.e., an inability to exercise their choice about the number of children they have. Almost 23% of Indian adults faced both.
Issue of child marriage
The need is for a comprehensive, multi-pronged strategy which includes education, contraception access, nutrition, mental health support and community empowerment to tackle the root causes rather than addressing symptoms.
UNICEF reports that each additional year of secondary education can reduce the likelihood of child marriage by up to 6%. Project Udaan (implemented by IPE Global in Rajasthan between 2017 and 2022), used this as its basis; it became an example of how a streamlined, 360° approach can drive meaningful change for young people.
The initiative addressed the challenge of early marriages and teenage pregnancies by keeping girls in secondary school through the strategic use of government scholarship schemes, improving their awareness of sexual and reproductive health, and improving access to modern contraceptives for young women, which helped bolster the voice and reproductive agency of girls and women. The initiative led to almost 30,000 child marriages being prevented and nearly 15,000 teenage pregnancies being averted, while also ensuring an education and a bright future for these girls.
Similarly, the Advika programme, launched by the Government of Odisha in partnership with UNICEF-UNFPA in 2019-20, has made strides in preventing child marriage through strategies which include strengthening state systems, fostering awareness about child protection issues, and empowering adolescents through education, skill development and leadership training. Its youth-focused approach has enabled about 11,000 villages to be declared child marriage-free; in 2022, nearly 950 child marriages were stopped.
Addressing child marriage and early pregnancy is essential, but true empowerment means going further — equipping adolescents, especially girls, with the skills, the education and the opportunities they need to lead independent and meaningful lives, while also fostering enabling environments that support their agency, voice and participation in decisions that affect them. This includes the timing of their marriage, reproductive freedom (whether or not to have children, the age at which they have the first child, the number of children they wish to have), or how they choose to live meaningful lives on their own terms. At the heart of this empowerment lies economic independence. When economically empowered, women gain the resources, the confidence and the voice to shape their futures and contribute meaningfully to society.
To address the issues surrounding women’s economic empowerment and the low female labour force participation, Project Manzil is being implemented by IPE Global in collaboration with the Government of Rajasthan in six selected districts (2019-25). The programme which utilises a human-centred design approach, understands the aspirations of young women, then aligns skill training with these aspirations, and enables them to have unhindered access to dignified employment opportunities at gender-friendly workplaces. As with all effective programmes, this has been complemented with addressing harmful social norms through consistent behaviour change communication strategies. The project has made families prosperous and has also transformed communities. For instance, it helped 28,000 young women (ages 18 to 21 years) to complete skill training at government skill training centres — 16,000 were employed, making them the first generation of women from their communities to enter skilled professions. Empowered by financial stability, these young women exude better negotiation power to delay or get married.
Accelerating progress
The State of World Population 2025 report aptly focuses on rights-based, multi-sector investments and underscores that progress hinges on expanding universal access to contraception, safe abortion, maternal health and infertility care, and also in removing structural barriers such as education, housing, childcare and workplace flexibility. It also emphasises that investing in girls’ education, life-skills development, conditional cash transfers, community mobilisation and health services delivers measurable gains. Programmes such as Udaan, Advika and Manzil showcase how these investments can be brought to life and improve the future of youth everywhere.
The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, has rightly called for this World Population Day to celebrate the potential and the promise the largest-ever generation of youth holds. It is important to remember that they are entitled to shape their futures by making informed choices about their health, families, careers and lives. India stands at a defining moment on its development journey, and its success will depend on how well it can understand the aspirations of its youth, amplifying the voices of young women, and helping unlock opportunities for them.
Shrishti Pandey is Manager, Social and Economic Empowerment, IPE Global (international development consulting firm). Ashish Mukherjee is Vice-President, Social and Economic Empowerment, IPE Global. Raghwesh Ranjan is Senior Director, Social and Economic Empowerment, IPE Global