student asking question

What does "set to" mean here? Is it same as just "to"?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Looking at the context, we can see that it is a comparison or ranking of countries with the biggest population. As we can understand this to be a comparison or competitive situation, "set to" can be understood as "ready to," "about to," or "expected to." "Set to" implies that India overtaking China in population is imminent and expected. Ex: The athlete is set to break the world record. Ex: The company is set to overtake the automobile industry leader.

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