This is an article written for the topic in Tnpsc: “Population in the Indian Economics“
Population Concerning to Indian Economics
Demographic trends in India
Demography is the scientific study of the characteristics of the population. The factors of the demography trends are:
Size of the population – Rate of growth, Birth and death rates, Density of population.
Sex-ratio– Life expectancy at birth, Literacy ratio.
Size of Population
Indian population has grown about four times in the last 100 years and has 2.4% of the world’s population and yet it contributes only 1.2% of the world’s income.
And also has 17.5% of the world’s population, and every 6th person in the world is Indian. The population of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra combined is more than the population of the United States of America, which happens to be the world’s third most populous country.
Some of the Indian states have a larger population than many countries. The population of India had negative growth during 1911-21 due to epidemics like cholera, plague, influenza, and famines.
The year 1921 is known as the ‘Year of Great Divide’ for the Indian population as it starts increasing.
Then the population growth rate has come from 1.33% to 1.25% during 1951. Therefore this period is known as the ‘Year of Small Divide’. The year 1961 is known as the ‘Year of Population Explosion‘ since the population is increased at a rate of 1.96% i.e 2%.
The population of India crossed the one billion or 100 crore mark in 2011. The 2011 census shows that of growth of young population described as ‘Demographic Transition’.
Birth rate and death rate
Crude Birth Rate
The number of birth per thousand.
Crude Death Rate
The number of death per thousand.
The crude birth and death rates during various years are:
The Crude Birth rate in 1951 is 39.9 and decline to 21.8 in 2011. The decline of the Birth rate is not remarkable. The crude death rate in 1951 is 27.4 and 7.1 in 2011.
However, from the information above, the birth rate is less than the death rate. Kerala has the lowest birth rate in India which is about 14.7 and Uttar Pradesh has the highest birth rate of about 29.5.
West Bengal has the lowest death rate of about 6.3 and Orissa has the highest death rate of about 9.2. Among the Indian States, Bihar has the highest decadal growth rate of population in 2001-2011.
On the other hand, Kerala has the lowest growth rate. The BIMARU states such as Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh have a very high population.
Density of population
It refers to the average number of persons living per square kilometer. The density of population refers to the man-land ratio. The size of the land does not change, but an increase or decrease in population causes the density of the population to rise.
The density of Population = Total Population / Land Area of the region
Before Independence, the density of population was less than 100. But after independence, it has increased rapidly from 117 in 1951 to 325 in 2001. According to the 2011 census, the present density of population is 382.
Kerala, West Bengal, Bihar, and Uttar Pradesh have a higher density than India’s average density.
Bihar is the most densely populated state in the country with 1102 people living per sq. km followed by West Bengal with 880. Arunachal Pradesh has a low density of population of only 17 persons.
Sex ratio
The sex ratio refers to the number of females per 1000 males. In India, the sex ratio is favorable to men.
In Kerala, the adult sex ratio is 1084 as in 2011. That there are more females in Kerala than Men. Haryana has the lowest sex ratio of 877 (2011) among other states.
Life expectancy at birth
Life expectancy has improved over the years. Life expectancy is low when the death rate is high or early death is high. Life expectancy is high when the death rate is low and early death is low.
A decline in the death rate is responsible for the improvement in life expectancy at birth. But the life expectancy in India is low compared to the developed countries.
Literacy ratio
Literacy ratio refers to the number of literates as a percentage of the total population. In 1951, only one-fourth of the males and one-twelfth of the females were literates.
Thus, on average, only one-sixth of the people of the country were literates. In 2011, 82% of males and 65.5% of females were literates giving an overall literacy rate of 74.04% (2011).
When compared to other developed countries and even Sri Lanka has a low literacy rate. Kerala has the highest literacy ratio of 92% followed by Goa with 82%, Himachal Pradesh with 76%, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu with 76% and 74% respectively.
Bihar has the lowest literacy ratio at 53% in 2011.
