India, which is home to more young people than any other country, is running out of time to harness the potential of its youth to drive economic growth.
The nation's population in the under-19 age group has already peaked, government data show. That means the labor force will grow more slowly from here on out. In just over 20 years, the South Asian nation will be an aging society, similar to where China is now, according to the economic survey published by the Finance Ministry earlier this month.
With those risks looming, India is not doing enough to revamp its education system to prepare the youth for better-paying, high-skilled jobs, going by a recent World Bank report. The world's sixth-biggest economy, and until recently the fastest-growing major one, is ranked 115 out of 157 countries in the Human Capital Index, which measures the investment in education and health care for young people.