India’s Youth Mental Health Crisis: Demographic Dividend Or Distress? – OpEd

For over a decade, India has celebrated its demographic dividend as an economic prophecy. With a median age under 30 and one of the world’s largest youth populations, the country has positioned its young citizens as the engine of future growth. Policymakers, investors, and global institutions alike have framed this youth bulge as India’s strategic advantage in a rapidly aging world. Yet beneath this optimism lies a more unsettling reality: India’s young adults are not thriving psychologically.