Population
India’s population, as on 1 March 1991 stood at 846.30 million
(439.23 million males and 407.07 million females). This includes the
projected population of 7.72 million of Jammu and Kashmir. The second
largest populous country, India is the home of 16 per cent of world’s
population. The country, however, accounts for 2.42 per cent of the
total world area.
The population of India as recorded at each decenial census from 1901
has grown steadily except for a decrease during 1911-21. Decadal growth
of population from 1901, is shown in table 1.1. In most states the
growth rate declined during the decade. However, Andhra Pradesh,
Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Tripura, West
Bengal, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Pondicherry which account for
one-third of the country’s population, recorded increase in growth
rate. Nagaland registered the highest growth rate of 56.08 per cent
while Kerala the lowest 14.32 per cent.
Population
of India 2001
Population density
One of the important indices of population concentration is the density
of population. It is defined as the number of persons per square
kilometre. The population density has gone up from 216 in 1981 to 267
persons in 1991 (excluding Assam and J&K). In 1901 it was 77
persons.
The 10 heavily populated districts of the country are Calcutta,
Chennai, Greater Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Chandigarh, Mahe, Howrah,
Kanpur City and Bangalore. All of them have density of above 2,000
persons per square kilometre and 5.01 per cent of the country’s
population lives in these districts. The average density of these
districts is 6,888.
Sex Ratio
Sex ratio is defined as the number of females per thousand males. In
India, it has generally been adverse to women. The ratio has also
declined over the years except in 1981 when it slightly improved to 934
from 927. In 1991, there has been a fall by seven points to 927 per
thousand males. But Kerala represented a different spectrum. The State
has a higher number of females than males, 1,036 females against
thousand males.
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Sex Ratio