Q.Mention the salient demographic indicators of China, Pakistan and India.

Comparing India, China, and Pakistan on demographic indicators shows China with the slowest population growth and the best health outcomes (due to decades of strict population control and sustained health investment), Pakistan with the fastest population growth and weakest health indicators among the three, and India positioned in between, though it has now overtaken China as the world's most populous country.

Salient demographic indicators — comparative picture:

1. Population size: China was long the world's most populous country, but India has now overtaken it as the country with the largest population. Pakistan's population is much smaller than both India's and China's.

2. Population growth rate (annual): Pakistan has historically recorded the highest annual population growth rate of the three countries. China has recorded the lowest, mainly due to its strict one-child policy (relaxed in recent years), while India's growth rate lies in between, though it has been gradually declining.

3. Birth rate and total fertility rate: Pakistan has the highest birth rate and fertility rate among the three; China has the lowest (a direct consequence of its population-control policy); India's rates lie between the two and have been falling over time as development proceeds.

4. Death rate: Crude death rates are broadly comparable and relatively low across all three, reflecting improvements in health care, though Pakistan tends to record a somewhat higher death rate than China.

5. Population density: India is the most densely populated among the three countries, given its relatively smaller land area compared to its huge population, while China — despite its very large population — has a much larger land area and so a lower density.

6. Sex ratio (females per 1,000 males): China and India have both historically shown a sex ratio unfavourable to females (fewer females per 1,000 males) compared to the global pattern, often linked to son-preference and, in China's case, the long one-child policy; Pakistan's sex ratio has also been less favourable to females.

7. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and life expectancy: China performs best among the three on both counts — lowest IMR and highest life expectancy — reflecting its stronger investment in basic health infrastructure since the 1950s. Pakistan generally has the weakest IMR and life expectancy figures, while India lies in between, having improved steadily but still trailing China.

8. Literacy rate: China has the highest literacy rate of the three, India comes next, and Pakistan generally records the lowest literacy rate among them, with a wider gender gap in literacy as well.

(Exact numeric values for each indicator change from year to year and edition to edition of the data source — the comparative pattern above, which is the core syllabus point, has remained broadly consistent.)

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