AIIMS Delhi displays live population count of India: How does it get data on newly born babies? | India News
A digital clock is going viral in Delhi. Well, it’s not an ordinary clock. It’s a population counter clock which is displayed at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS Delhi). It has recently attracted attention online, with the number on the screen changing continuously and appearing to show India’s population growing every second. Now, this viral display has also raised an important question: if the number increases every few seconds, is AIIMS actually receiving information every time a baby is born somewhere in India?So the answer is NO.It’s a population clock and it is an estimate based on demographic data and population projections. It’s not a nationwide live birth-tracking system. The distinction is important because India does have official systems for recording births and deaths. These systems do not work like a real-time national counter.A population clock, not a birth registerThe Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s National Health Profile identifies the Census, registration of vital events, population surveys, population projections and the Sample Registration System (SRS) among the sources used for demographic information.The Civil Registration System (CRS), maintained through the registration machinery of the government, is responsible for the continuous recording of vital events such as births and deaths. The Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner describes civil registration as the continuous, permanent and compulsory recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events.But this does not mean that a national population display receives an electronic notification every time a birth takes place in India.So why the number keeps changingNow this is where population estimation comes in. A population clock takes a known or estimated population at a particular reference point and applies demographic rates to project how that population changes over time.If the estimated population is expected to rise by a certain number over a year, the annual change can be mathematically distributed across months, days, hours, minutes and seconds. A digital display can therefore make the number appear to be changing in real time.If the display increases by one, it does not necessarily mean that a particular baby has just been born somewhere in India. It represents a calculated movement in the estimated population total.India’s last completed population Census
A population clock (Instagram)
India’s last completed population Census was conducted in 2011, when the country’s population was recorded at about 121.1 crore. The National Health Profile notes that India’s population was projected to increase from 121.1 crore in 2011 to 152.2 crore by 2036, an increase of about 25% over 25 years.The United Nations follows a similar demographic approach. Its World Population Prospects 2024 provides population estimates and projections based on analyses of historical demographic trends for countries and territories around the world.What about babies born at AIIMS?The fact that the clock is located at AIIMS can easily create another misconception that AIIMS might somehow be using its maternity records to calculate India’s population.Instead, births are recorded through the country’s civil registration framework, while demographic agencies use registration data, surveys and statistical methods to understand population trends.Why does the clock look so precise?That is perhaps the most fascinating part of the viral display.A computer can calculate an estimated population to several decimal places and refresh the display every second. That does not mean demographers know the exact number of people alive in India at that precise second.The changing digits are essentially a visualisation of a statistical model. It is similar to a countdown or a continuously updated financial index: the display can change every second even though the underlying information is based on data collected over a longer period.
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The viral AIIMS population clock is therefore best understood as a demographic awareness tool, not as a nationwide surveillance mechanism for births.India’s population is certainly changing continuously. Babies are being born, people are dying and migration changes the distribution of people across regions. So, the next time the AIIMS population clock ticks upward, it does not mean that a computer has just received the birth certificate of another Indian baby.
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