Indian Economy, 5th edition (143 page)

•
The population of India has increased by more than
181 million
during the decade 2001–2011.

•
Decadal growth rate of the population (2001–2011) has been 17.64 per cent (
i.e. 1.76 % per year
); males 17.19 and females 18.12.

•
2001–2011 is the
first decade
(with the exception of 1911–1921) which has actually added lesser population compared to the previous decade.

•
Uttar Pradesh (199.5 million) is the
most populous
State in the country followed by Maharashtra with 112 million.

•
The percentage decadal growth rates of the six most populous States have
declined
during 2001–2011 compared to 1991–2001:

-
Uttar Pradesh (25.85% to 20.09%)

-
Maharashtra (22.73% to 15.99%)

-
Bihar (28.62% to 25.07%)

-
West Bengal (17.77 % to 13.93%)

-
Andhra Pradesh (14.59% to 11.10%)

-
Madhya Pradesh (24.26% to 20.30%)

•
During 2001–2011, as many as 25 States/UTs with a share of about 85% of the country’s population registered an annual growth rate of less than 2% as compared to, 15 States/UTs with a share of about 42% during the period 1991–2001.

•
15 States/UTs have grown by less than 1.5 per cent per annum during 2001–2011, while the number of such States/UTs was only 4 during the previous decade.

•
The total number of children in the age-group 0–6 is 158.8 million (-5 million since 2001).

•
Twenty States and Union Territories now have over one million children in the age group 0–6 years. On the other extreme, there are five States and Union Territories in the country that are yet to reach the one hundred thousand mark.

•
Uttar Pradesh (29.7 million), Bihar (18.6 million), Maharashtra (12.8 million), Madhya Pradesh (10.5 million) and Rajasthan (10.5 million) constitute 52% children in the age group of 0–6 years.

•
Population (0–6 years) 2001–2011 registered minus (–) 3.08 percent growth with minus (–) 2.42 for males and –3.80 for females

•
The proportion of
Child Population
in the age group of 0–6 years to total population is
13.1
percent while the corresponding figure in 2001 was 15.9 percent. The decline has been to the extent of 2.8 points.

•
Overall
sex ratio
at the national level has increased by 7 points to reach
940
at Census 2011 as against 933 in Census 2001. This is the
highest
sex ratio recorded since Census 1971 and a shade lower than 1961. Increase in sex ratio is observed in 29 States/UTs.

•
Three major States (J&K, Bihar & Gujarat) have shown decline in sex ratio as compared to Census 2001.

•
Kerala with 1084 has the
highest sex ratio
followed by Puducherry with 1038; Daman & Diu has the
lowest sex ratio
of 618.

•
Child sex ratio
(0–6 years) is 914. Increasing trend in the child sex ratio (0–6) seen in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and A&N Islands. In all remaining 27 States/UTs, the child sex ratio show decline over Census 2001.

•
Mizoram has the
highest child sex ratio
(0–6 years) of 971 followed by Meghalaya with 970. Haryana is at the bottom with ratio of 830 followed by Punjab with 846.

•
Literacy
rate has gone up from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to
74.04
per cent (
aged 7 and above
) in 2011 showing an increase of 9.21 percentage points. Percentage growth in literacy during 2001–2011 is 38.82; males: 31.98% and females: 49.10%.

The Way Ahead

The Census also talks about the rising population and the solutions regarding checking it. The discussion takes recourse to the famous Theory of Demographic Transition. A country which has added a size of population equa to the 5
th
most populous country in the world (Brazil), the pressure on the resources may be just imagined in India! The speed with which India is adding population poses a big challenge in front of almost every kind of
planning
in the country. The immediacy to check the rising population has been highlighted by the Census. Without overall development in the living standards of the population, checking population will not be possible. This is why since the launching of the NPP–2000, the governments are trying to
tag-in
all the programmes focused at poverty alleviation, employment generation, healthcare, etc to realise the single goal—
let peoples’ living standard improve
. The changed policy stance seems having an impact on the population growth rate—the country going for decreased rate of population growth rate in the decade gone by.

DIAGRAMMATIC HIGHLIGHTS OF
THE CENSUS

INDIA in the WORLD
: India’s population (1210.2 million) is almost equal to the combined population of USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan (totalling 1214.3 million)! The absolute increase in India’s population (181 million) during 2001–2011, is slightly lower than the population of Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the world!