印度总人口数量已经接近12亿，其中近半人口年龄在25岁以下，未来几十年，印度人口将达到15－19亿。为避免人口继续过快增长，印度一些地方政府针对新婚夫妇推出了“蜜月大礼包”项目，新婚夫妇推迟生育两年，就可获得5000卢比(约合730元人民币)的现金奖励。

As part of a pilot program（试点工程） aimed at curbing¹ India’s runaway² population growth, some regional governments have begun offering monetary³ incentives⁴ to newlyweds（新婚夫妇） willing to delay having children for a few years.

Nurses have been going door to door in Maharashtra this summer peddling⁵（沿街叫卖） the so-called “honeymoon package” which pays new couples as much as Rs. 5,000 (US$107) if they wait two years before getting pregnant, according to The New York Times.

India is second only to China in terms of（依据，按照） total population, but while China’s population is getting older, India is in the midst of a “baby boom” era. Of the nearly 1.2 billion people living in India, about half are under the age of 25. This could be one of the country’s greatest strengths going forward as an immense young workforce⁶ begins to form, but it could also potentially lead to its undoing⁷ as the government is challenged with providing hundreds of millions of children with schooling⁸ and other state services.

In coming decades, India is projected to surpass China as the world’s most populous⁹ nation, and the critical uncertainty¹⁰ is just how populous it will be. Estimates range from 1.5 billion to 1.9 billion people, and Indian leaders recognize that that must be avoided.

This issue is further compounded by fact that birth rates in India are highest in the country’s poorest and least educated regions, like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Similarly, birth rates are lowest in the wealthier southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where students are typically educated about the use of contraception（避孕） .

“An educated girl is your best contraception,” Dr. Amarjit Singh, executive director of India’s National Population Stabilization¹¹ Fund, told The New York Times. By his estimations, roughly half of India’s future excess population growth is expected to come from its six poorest states.

It remains¹² unclear what the best method is to tackle population growth, but policies like the “honeymoon package” are well intended, and some believe well overdue¹³（过期的，迟到的） .

“It’s already late,” said Sabu Padmadas, a demographer¹⁴（人口学家） at the University of Southhampton. “It’s definitely high time for India to act.”

On the whole, India’s current birth rate is estimated at about 21.76 births per 10,000 and has seen a slow but steady decline in recent years, partly due to improved education. By comparison, China has a birth rate of about 14 per 10,000 and the United States stands at about 13.82 per 10,000 as of 2009.