Population in India

Population

The total number of people residing in a country at a specified period of time is called the 'Population' of that country. India is the second most populous country in the world next only to china. India covers only 2.4 percent of the land area of the world, but is the home of about 17.5 percent of the world’s population. It shows that the proportion of population of India is far higher than the proportion of its area. Thus, a little more than one out of every six persons in the world is from India.

Census

Population census is the total process of collecting, compiling, analysing or otherwise disseminating demographic, economic and social data pertaining, at a specific time, of all persons in a country or a well-defined part of a country. It happens in an interval of ten years. The data collected through the census are used for administration, planning, policy making as well as management and evaluation of various programmes by the government.

In India the first census was carried out in the year 1872. But the first complete and synchronous census was conducted in 1881. And the 2011 census represents the fifteenth census of India.

Distribution and Density of Population

The term 'Population Distribution' refers to the way the people are spaced over the earth’s surface. The distribution of population in India is quite uneven because of the vast variation in the availability of resources. Population is mostly concentrated in the regions of industrial centres and the good agricultural lands. On the other hand, the areas such as high mountains, arid lands, thickly forested areas and some remote corners are very thinly populated and some areas are even uninhabited. Terrain, climate, soil, water bodies, mineral resources, industries, transport and urbanization are the major factors which affect the distribution of population in our country.

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in the country with a population of 199.5 million followed by Maharashtra (112.3 million), Bihar (103.8 million) West Bengal (91.3 million) and the combined Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (84.6 million). These five states account for about half of the country’s population. Sikkim is the least populous state of India(0.61 million). Delhi with 16.75 million population tops among the Union territories.

The uneven distribution of population in the country is the result of several factors such as physical, socio-economic and historical ones. The physical factors include relief, climate, water, natural vegetation, minerals and energy resources. Socio-economic factors consists of the religion, culture, political issues, economy, human settlements, transport network, industrialization, urbanization, employment opportunity etc.

Density of population

It is expressed as number of persons per sq km. According to 2011, the average density of population of India is 382 persons per sq.km. India is one of the most thickly populated ten countries of the world. The most densely populated state of India is Bihar and the state with least population density is Arunachal Pradesh. Among the union territories, Delhi is the densely populated one with 11,297 per sq.km, while Andaman and Nicobar Islands have the lowest density of population.

Population Growth and Change

Population change refers to an increase or decrease of population of an area from one period to another period. Population growth is influenced by the birth rate, death rate and migration. These three make the changes in population.

Birth rate refers to the number of live births per thousand people in a year and the Death rate refers to the number of deaths per thousand people in a year. The rapid decline in death rate is the major cause of the rapid growth of population in India.

The following table shows the decadal growth rate of population from 1901 to 2011.