Provisional
Poulation of India : At 00.00 hours of 1st
March, 2001 the population of India stood at 1027,015,247 comprising
of 531,277,078
males and 495,738,169 females. Thus, India becomes
the second country in the world after China to cross the one
billion mark. The percentage decadal growth of the
country as a whole has declined from 23.86 during 1981-1991 to
21.34 during 1991-2001. Thus, India has registered
a fall in its decadal growth rate by 2.52 percent points, which
is the sharpest decline since independence. The average
annual exponential growth rate has declined from 2.14
percent
in 1981-91 to 1.93 percent during 1991-2001. Among
the districts Wokha of Nagaland registered 95 percent decadal
growth between 1991-2001, which is the highest among
all the districts. Mamit district of Mizoram has the lowest
(-3.50) decadal growth.
Uttar
Pradesh continues to be the most populous state in the
country with 16.17 percent of India's population followed by
Maharashtra
(9.42 percent) and Bihar (8.07 percent). At district
level Medinipur of West Bengal is the largest district in India
in terms of population size with 9.64 million people
living
there. Interestingly more people live in Medinipur district
than in either Himachal Pradesh or Uttranchal. On the
other extreme Serchhip district of Mizoram is smallest district
in terms of population size at 55,539. Top
Density
of Population : India now has 57 more persons
per square kilometer as compared to 1991. West Bengal
is the most densely populated state in the country with
904 persons living per square kilometer followed by Bihar
with 880. At district level the North East district in
Union territory Delhi has the highest population density
in the country with 29395 persons per square kilometer.
On the other extreme the lowest density of population
is in Lahul and Spiti districts of Himachal Pradesh where
only two persons are living per square kilometer.
Sex
Ratio : Sex
ratio (the number of females per 1000 males) for India
is 933 females per 1000 males, which is an improvement
of 6 points over 927 recorded in 1991 Census. Like the
1991 Census, the highest sex ratio (1058) has been reported
in Kerala. Haryana has reported the lowest sex ratio
of 861 among the major states. One of the interesting
fact that has emerged, is that the sex ratio of child
population in age group 0-6 is 927. The child sex ratio
in 1991 was 945. The sharpest decline in sex ratio of
the child population has been observed in Himachal Pradesh,
Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttranchal, Maharashtra and
Union territory of Chandigarh.
The pattern
of sex ratio of the population at the district level
reveals a diverse pattern. Of the total 593 districts, 324 districts
record sex ratio above 933. In other words, around 55
per
cent of the total districts record sex ratio above the
national average. Of these 78 districts record sex ratio above
1000,
there were only 45 such districts in 1991. Of the 265
districts recording sex ratio below national average, as many
as 23
districts have sex ratio less than 833. In other words
a further deficit of over a hundred women,comparedto the
low national average is found in these districts (Supplement
to Paper-I, Chapter-2). Top
Child
Sex Ratio : The child sex ratio in the age
group 0-6 at the district level reveals that 378 or 64%
of the districts record higher child sex ratio than 927
recorded at the national level. There is no change in
the child sex ratio in case of 9 districts. 204 districts
register a lower sex ratio than recorded at the national
level whereas only one district in 1991 recorded child
sex ratio below 850 (Salem). An inordinately low child
sex ratio of below 850 is recorded in 48 districts, which
include all districts of Punjab, Haryana and some districts
of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat. Another highlight of
the district level data relates to glaring decline in
child sex ratio in as many as 456 districts as compared
to 1991.
Literacy
Rates :The literacy
rates among the population seven years and above
for the country stands at 65.38
percent. The corresponding figures for males and
females are 75.85 and 54.16 percent respectively.
In other words
three-fourths of the male population and more than
half of the female population in the country are
literate
today.
Thus,
the literacy recorded an impressive jump of 13.17 percentage
points from 52.21 in 1991 to 65.38 in 2001. The increase
of literacy rates among males and females are 11.72 and
14.87 percentage points respectively. It is heartening to observe
that the gap in males and females literacy rates has
decreased
from 24.84 in 1991 census to 21.70 percentage point in
2001. Top
Kerala
continues its lead in the literacy rate with 90.92 percent
followed by Mizoram 88.49 and Lakshadweep 87.52 per cent.
Bihar has recorded the lowest literacy rate of 47.53 per
cent in the country. Aizawl district of Mizoram tops the
chart at district level with the highest literacy rate of
96.6 per cent while Dantewara district of Chhatisgarh is
at the bottom with 30 percent literacy rate. Among the males
highest literacy rate has been recorded at Mahe district
of Pondicheery 96.7 per cent and the lowest in the Dantewara
district of Chhatisgarh 39.6 per cent. Female literacy rates
are highest in Aizawl district of Mizoram 96.1 and the lowest
in Kishanganj district of Bihar 18.5 per cent.
One of
the most significant aspects of literacy data thrown up by
the Provisional Population Totals of Census of India, 2001,
is that for the first time since independence the absolute
number of illiterates have shown a decline. The decline is
as large as 31.96 million during 1991-2001. This decline
among males was 21.45 million and 10.51 million among females.
(Source: Provisional Population Totals - Paper-1 and Supplement
to Paper-1 Census of India, 2001).
Rural
- Urban Distribution of Population : Out
of the total population of 1027 million as on 1st
March,
2001, about 742 million live in rural areas and 285
million in urban areas. The net addition of population
in rural
areas during 1991-2001 has been to the tune of 113
million while in urban areas it is 68 million. The
percentage
decadal growth of population in rural and urban areas
during the decade is 17.9 and 31.2 percent respectively. Top
The percentage
urban population to the total population of the country
stands at 27.8. The percentage of urban population to total population
in the 1991 Census (including interpolated population
of
Jammu & Kashmir where Census could not be conducted
in 1991 Census) was 25.7 percent. Thus, there has
been an increase
of 2.1 percentage points in the proportion of urban
population in the country during 1991-2001.
Among
all the States and Union territories, the National Capital
Territory of Delhi is most urbanized with 93 percent urban
population followed by Union territory of Chandigarh (89.8
percent) and Pondicherry (66.6 percent).
Among
the major States, Tamil Nadu is the most urbanized state
with 43.9 percent of the population living in urban areas
followed by Maharashtra (42.4 percent) and Gujarat (37.4
percent). The proportion of urban population is the lowest
in Bihar with 10.5 percent, followed by Assam (12.7 percent)
and Orissa (14.9 percent). Himachal Pradesh is the least
urbanized (9.8 percent) state among all the States and Union
territories in the country as per Census 2001.
In terms
of absolute number of persons living in urban areas, Maharashtra
leads with 41 million persons which is 14 percent of the
total urban population of the country. Uttar Pradesh accounts
for about 35 million followed by Tamil Nadu 27 million.
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