Provisional Results of Census of India 2001: As part of programme to release Provisional Results of the Census of India 2001 already two out of the three data-sets at India, State, Union territory, District and Taluka/Tahsil levels have been released. These are:

Provisional Population Totals
Rural Urban Distribution of Population

The data items included are population, child population in the age group 0-6 and literates by sex. The third data set under Provisional Series are due to be released by December 2001. It would cover provisional results on Workers and Non-workers. All the three data sets specified above are termed Provisional results as these are compiled from Enumerators Abstract prepared by each Enumerator as a summary sheet after completing enumeration in her/his Block. The next stage of data release would be Final Results Series and will be compiled after processing about 8 Million (80 lakh) Houselist Schedules and 220 Million (22 crore) Household Schedules.

Rural-urban distribution of district level data and Town level data released :

The data on these items for rural and urban areas for 593 districts of the country have been released on 23 October 2001. The data on same items for each of the Towns in the country have also been released on the same date. For accessing the data set please visit the Section on Town Data. For further computation using these tables the data users may save the files on the hard-disk and open them in MS Excel or other similar software.

Data Dissemination Workshop :

The Census Organisation is hosting a Workshop on Data Dissemination Strategy for Census of India 2001 at New Delhi in the second week of December 2001. This would be mainly confined to non-academic, non-governmental category of data users. The Census Commissioner invites proposals from various Business or Industrial Houses, or their apex bodies or federations to send in their suggestion. They may also indicate their willingness to participate in the proposed half a day workshop.

The Census organization publishes data as per pre-defined formats on various subjects. With the change in overall economic and social scenario there is a growing need for disseminating data as per specific needs of the data users.

For instance, specific profile of population on children or the aged, or women belonging to reproductive age groups, or working women at sub-district level could provide valuable insight which could be fruitfully used by business houses for enhancing their interests.

Please send in your suggestions and convey your willingness to participate in the Workshop.

At the Census 2001 as many as 5161 towns were delineated, which was 472 more than the number at the 1991 Census (4689). The number of towns at the 1981 Census was 4609. Out of the total 5169 towns. In 2001, 3800 are statutory towns and 1361 are Census towns. The number of statutory towns in census towns in 1991 was 2987 and 1702 respectively.

The number of UAs in the country increased from 381 at the 1991 Census to 384 at the Census 2001. The corresponding number in 1981 was 276. If urban agglomeration is counted as one urban unit then the number of Urban Agglomerations/towns are 4378 as compared to 3768 in 1991.

According to the Census 2001, in India out of total population of 1027 million about 285 millions live in urban areas and 742 millions live in rural areas. Thus, around 28 out of every 100 persons in India live in urban areas. In other words, for every 100 persons living in rural areas of India, 39 live in urban areas.

Notwithstanding, the difference in definitions of all the constituentes in urban areas in various countries, the degree of urbanisation in India is the amongst the lowest in the world. As per the UN estimates for the year 2000, 47 percent of total population of the world live in urban areas. The percentage of urban population in Asia is 36.7 while that for Europe, South America and North America are 74.8, 79.8 and 77.2 respectively.

The number of persons living in urban areas for every 100 persons of the country increased from 11 to 28 between 1901 and 2001 registering an increase of 17 per 100 during the time span of the twentieth century.

The pace of urbanisation has also been slower in India as compared to other countries in the world. As per the UN estimates the degree of urbanisation in the world in 1950 was around 30 percent which increased to 47 percent in the year 2000. In India, it increased from 17.3 in 1951 to 27.8 in 2001. China and Indonesia which had lower levels of urbanisation in 1950, have now overtaken India with percentage of urban population being 32.1 and 40.9 respectively.

The percentage decadal growth rate of urban population reveals that in India it grew at a faster pace from the decade 1921-1931 until 1951. Thereafter it registered a sharp drop during the decade 1951-1961. The decades 1961-71 and 1971-81 showed significant improvement in the growth rates which has thereafter steadily dropped to the present level of 31.2 in case of decadal growth and 2.7 in case of annual average exponential growth rate. The sharp drop in urban rate during 1951-61 was larger mainly due to declassification of a very large number of towns during that period. Table 1 & 2 below provides the details by Census Year between 1901 -2001.

Although the rural growth rate has been fluctuating from the first decade of the previous century, for the decades between 1951-61 and 1991-2001 it fluctuated within a small band.