IIPS-Envis Center on Environment and Population

Published in IIPS Mumbai, ENVIS center, Volume 8, No. 1, April-June 2011

Census 2011 Results: Population Growth, Sex-Ratio and Literacy Rate

Population growth

The demographics of India are remarkably diverse. India is the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.21 billion people (2011 census), more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.5% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing China, its population exceeding 1.6 billion people by 2050. However, its population growth rate is only 1.41%, ranking 93rd in the world.

Population and its Growth, India: 1901-2011

Census Years	Population	Decadal growth		Change in decadal growth		Average annual exponential growth rate (percent)	Progressive growth rate over 1901 (percent)
		Absolute	Percent	Absolute	Percent
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1901	23,85,96,327		-	-	-	-	-
1911	25,20,93,390	1,36,97,063	5.75	-	-	0.56	5.75
1921	25,13,21,213	-7,22,177	(0.31)	-14469240	-6.05	-0.03	5.42
1931	27,89,77,238	2,76,56,025	11.00	28428202	11.31	1.04	17.02
1941	31,86,60,580	3,96,83,342	14.22	12027317	3.22	1.33	33.67
1951¹	36,10,88,090	4,24,27,510	13.31	2744168	-0.91	1.25	51.47
1961¹	43,92,34,771	7,81,46,681	21.64	35719171	8.33	1.96	84.25
1971	54,81,59,652	10,89,24,881	24.80⁶	30778200	3.16	2.20	129.94
1981²	68,33,29.097	13,51,69,445	24.66⁶	26244564	-0.14	2.22	186.64
1991³	84,64,21,039	16,30,91,942	2.87	27922497	17.12	2.16	255.05
2001⁴	1,02,87,37,436	18,23,16,397	21.54	19224455	10.54	1.97	331.52
2011⁵	1,21,01,93,422	18,14,55,986	17.64	-860411	-0.47	1.64	407.64

Notes

1. In working out “Decadal Growth” and ‘Percentage Decadal Growth’ for India 1941-51 and 1951-61 the population of Tuensang district for 1951 (7,025) and the population of Tuensang (83,501) and Mon (5,774) districts for 1961 Census of Ngaland state have not been taken into account as the areas were censused for the first time in 1951 and the same are not comparable.

1. The 1981 Census could not be held owing to disturbed conditions prevalling in Assam. Hence the population figures for 1981 Census of Assam have been worked out by ‘interpolation’.

2. The 1991 Census could not be held owing to disturbed conditions prevailing in Jammu and Kashmir. Hence the population figures for 1991 Census of Jammu and Kashmir have been worked out by ‘interpolation’.

3. Includes estimated population of Paomata, Mao Maram and Pural sub-divisions of Senapati District of Manipur for 2001.

4. Includes estimated population of Paomata, Mao Maram and Pural sub-divisions of Senapati District of Manipur for 2011.

5. The percentage decadal growth shown in column 4 of Statement 2 indicates a decline from 24.80 percent during the decade 1961-71 to 24.66 percent during this decade 1971-81, while the average annual exponential growth rate presented in column 7 of this statement shows an increase from 2.20 to 2.22. This is because the percent decadal variation has not been adjusted for the shift in reference date in 1971. The decadal variation for 1961-71 relates to 121 months while that 1971-81 relates to 119 months . If we adjust for this difference, the percentage decadal growth works out of 24.59 percent for 1961-71 and 24.87 percent for the decade 1971-81.

Fig 1

Population, Percentage Decadal Growth and Average Annual Exponential Growth Rates, 1991-2001 and 2001-2011

State/UT Code	India/State/Union Territory*	Total Population		Percentage decadal growth		Average annual exponential growth rate
		2001	2011	1991-2001	2001-2011	1991-2001	2001-2011
	INDIA	1.02.87.37,436	1,21,01,93,422	21.54	17.64	1.97	1.64
1	Jammu & Kashmir	1,01,43,700	1,25,48,926	29.43	23.71	2.61	2.15
2.	Himachal Pradesh	60,77,900	68,56,509	17.54	12.81	1.63	1.21
3.	Punjab	2,43,58,999	2,77,04,236	20.10	13.73	1.85	1.30
4.	Chandigarh*	9,00,635	10,54,686	40.28	17.10	3.44	1.59
5.	Uttarakhand	84,89,349	1,01,16,752	20.41	19.17	1.87	1.77
6.	Harayana	2,11,44,564	2,53,53,081	28.43	19.90	2.53	1.83
7.	NCT of Delhi*	1,38,50,507	1,67,53235	47.02	20.96	3.93	1.92
8.	Rajasthan	5,65,07,188	6,86,21,012	28.41	21.44	2.53	1.96
9.	Uttar Pradesh	16,61,97,921	19,95,91,477	25.85	20.09	2.33	1.85
10	Bihar	8,29,98,509	10,38,04,637	28.62	25.07	2.55	2.26
11.	Sikkim	5,40,851	6,07,688	33.06	12.36	2.90	1.17
12.	Arunachal Pradesh	10,97,968	13,82,611	27.00	25.92	2.42	2.33
13.	Nagaland	19,90,036	19,80,602	64.43	-0.47	5.11	-0.05
14.	Manipur	22,93,896	27,21,756	24.86	18.65	2.25	1.72
15.	Mizoram	8,88,573	10,91,014	28.82	22.78	2.57	2.07
16.	Tripura	31,99,203	36,71,032	16.03	14.75	1.50	1.39
17.	Meghalaya	23,18,822	29,64,007	30.65	27.82	2.71	2.49
18.	Assam	2,66,55,528	3,11,69,271	18.92	16.93	1.75	1.58
19.	West Bengal	8,01,76,197	9,13,47,736	17.77	13.93	1.65	1.31
20	Jharkhand	2,69,45,829	3,29,66,238	23.36	22.34	2.12	2.04
21.	Orissa	3,68,04,660	4,19,47,358	16.25	13.97	1.52	1.32
22.	Chhattisgarh	2,08,33,803	2,55,40,196	18.27	22.59	1.69	2.06
23.	Madhya Pradesh	6,03,48,023	7,25,97,565	24.26	20.30	2.20	1.87
24.	Gujarat	5.06,71,017	6,03,83,628	22.66	19.17	2.06	1.77
25.	Daman & Diu*	1,58,204	2,42,911	55.73	53.54	4.53	4.38
26.	Dadra & Nagar Havel*	2,20,490	3,42,853	59.22	55.50	4.76	4.51
27.	Maharashtra	9,68,78,627	11,23,72,972	22.73	15.99	2.07	1.49
28.	Andhra Pradesh	7,62,10,007	8,46,65,533	14.59	11.10	1.37	1.06
29.	Karnataka	5,28,50,562	6,11,30,704	17.51	15.67	1.63	1.47
30.	Goa	13,47,668	14,57,723	15.21	8.17	1.43	0.79

State/UT Code	India/State/Union Territory*	Total Population		Percentage decadal growth		Average annual exponential growth rate
		2001	2011	1991-2001	2001-2011	1991-2001	2001-2011
31.	Lakshadweep*	60,650	64,429	17.30	6.23	1.61	0.61
32.	Kerala	3,18,41,374	3,33,87,677	9.43	4.86	0.90	0.48
33.	Tamil Nadu	6,24,05,679	7,21,38,958	11.72	15.60	1.11	1.46
34	Puducherry*	9,74,345	12,44,464	20.62	27.72	1.89	2.48
35	Andaman & Nicobar Islands*	3,56,152	3,79,944	26.90	6.68	2.41	0.65

Demographic transition is a global phenomenon; population growth is inevitable in the initial phases of the transition. For India the current phase of the demographic transition is both a challenge and an opportunity. The challenge is to ensure human development and optimum utilisation of human resources. The opportunity is to utilise available human resources to achieve rapid economic development and improvement in quality of life.

Sex Ratio

The reported decline in the sex ratio during the current century has been a cause for concern (Fig 2).The factors responsible for this continued decline are as yet not clearly identified. However, it is well recognised that the adverse sex ratio is a reflection of the gender disparity. Higher childhood mortality in girl children is yet another facet of the existing gender disparities and consequent adverse effect on survival.

Fig 2

In the reproductive age group the mortality rates among women are higher than those among men. The continued high maternal mortality is one of the major factors responsible for this. Effective implementation of the Reproductive and Child Health Programme is expected to result in a substantial reduction in maternal mortality. At the moment, the longevity at birth among women is only marginally higher than that among men. However over the next decade life expectancy among women will progressively increase. Once the reproductive age group is crossed, the mortality rates among women are lower as women outlive and out number men in the age group 65 and above. The needs especially of the widowed women have to be met so that quality of life does not deteriorate.

Sex Ratio of Total Population and Child Population in the age group 0-6 and 7+ years: 2001-2011

State/ UT Code	India/States/Union Territory*	Sex ratio (females per 1000 males)
State/ UT Code	India/States/Union Territory*	Total Population		Child Population		Population aged 7 and above
		2001	2011	2001	2011	2001	2011
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	INDIA	933	940	927	914	934	944
01	Jammu & Kashmir	892	883	941	859	884	887
02	Himachal Pradesh	968	974	896	906	980	983
03	Punjab	876	893	798	846	888	899
04	Chandigarh*	777	818	845	867	767	812
05	Uttarakhand	962	963	908	886	973	975
06	Harayana	861	877	819	830	869	885
07	NCT of Delhi*	821	866	868	866	813	866
08	Rajasthan	921	926	909	883	923	935
09	Uttar Pradesh	898	908	91	899	894	910
10	Bihar	919	916	942	033	914	912
11	Sikkim	875	889	963	944	861	883
12	Arunachal Pradesh	893	920	964	960	878	913
13	Nagaland	900	931	964	944	890	929
14	Manipur	974	987	957	934	977	995
15	Mizoram	935	975	964	971	930	976
16	Tripura	948	961	966	953	945	962
17	Meghalaya	972	986	973	970	971	989
18	Assam	935	954	965	957	929	953
19	West Bengal	934	947	960	950	929	946
20	Jharkhand	941	947	965	93	935	948
21	Orissa	972	978	953	934	976	985
22	Chhattisgarh	989	991	975	964	992	995
23	Madhya Pradesh	919	930	932	912	916	933
24	Gujarat	920	918	883	886	927	923
25	Daman & Diu*	710	618	926	909	682	589
26	Dadra & Nagar Havel*	812	775	979	924	779	752
27.	Maharashtra	922	925	913	883	924	931
28.	Andhra Pradesh	978	992	961	943	981	997
29	Karnataka	965	968	946	943	968	971
30	Goa	961	968	938	920	964	973

State/ UT Code	India/States/Union Territory*	Sex ratio (females per 1000 males)
State/ UT Code	India/States/Union Territory*	Total Population		Child Population		Population aged 7 and above
		2001	2011	2001	2011	2001	2011
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
31	Lakshadweep*	948	946	959	908	946	951
32	Kerala	1058	1084	960	959	1072	1099
33	Tamil Nadu	987	995	942	946	993	1000
34	Puducherry*	1001	1038	967	965	1006	1047
35	Andaman & Nicobar Islands*	846	878	957	966	831	868

Note: * Union Territories

The top three States recording the highest value of overall sex ratio are in Kerala (1084), Tamil Nadu (995) and Andhra Pradesh (992). Among the UTs, the top three are Puducherry (1038), Lakshadweep (946) and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands (878). The lowest sex ratio among the states has been recorded in Haryana (877), Jammu & Kashmir (883) and Sikkim (889). Among the UTs the lowest sex ratio has been recorded in Daman & Diu (618), Dadra & Nagar Haveli (775) and Chandigarh (818).

Literacy Rate

In earlier censuses upto 1981, it was customary to work out the literacy rate taking into account the total population. Since literacy rate is more meaningful if the sub-population in the age group 0-6 is excluded from the total population, it was decided in 1991 to calculate literacy rate for the population seven years and above.

India's effective literacy rate has recorded a 9.2 per cent rise to reach 74.04 per cent, according to provisional data of the 2011 census. Effective literacy rate in the 2001 census was 64.83, which improved to 74.04.

Interestingly, literacy rate improved sharply among females as compared to males. While the effective literacy rate for males rose from 75.26 to 82.14 per cent marking a rise of 6.9 per cent, it increased by 11.8 per cent for females to go from 53.67 to 65.46 per cent.

Number of Literates and Illiterates among Population aged 7 years and above and their change- India :2001 and 2011

Literates and Illiterates	Persons	Males	Females
1	2	3	4
Population (aged 7 and above)
2001	86,49,00,041	44,72,14,823	41,76,85,218
2011	1,05,14,04,135	54,07,72,113	51,06,32,022
Increase in 2011over 2001	18,65,04,094	9,35,57,290	9,29,46,804
Literates
2001	56,07,53,179	33,65,71,822	22,41,81,357
2011	77,84,54,120	44,42,03,762	33,42,50,358
Increase in 2011over 2001	21,77,00,941	10,76,31,940	11,00,69,001
Illiterates
2001	30,41,46,862	11,06,43,001	19,35,03,861
2011	27,29,50,015	9,65,68,351	17,63,81,664
Increase in 2011over 2001	-3,11,96,847	-1,40,74,650	-1,71,22,197

Literacy Rate in India : 1951-2011

Census Year	Persons	Male	Female
1	2	3	4
1951	18.33	27.16	8.86
1961	28.30	40.40	15.35
1971	34.45	45.96	21.97
1981	43.57	56.38	29.76
1991	52.21	6413	39.29
2001	64.83	75.26	63.67
2011	74.04	82.14	65.46

According to provisional totals of the latest census, literates constitute 74 per cent of total population aged seven and above.it was encouraging to note that out of total 217,700,941 literates added during the decade, females at 110,069.001 outnumbered males at 107,631,940.A significant milestone reached in 2011 census was the decline of illiterates by 31,196,847.Ten states and union territories, including Kerala, Lakshadweep, Mizoram, Tripura, Goa, Daman and Diu, Puducherry, Chandigarh, National Capital Territory of Delhi and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, have attained literacy rate of above 85 per cent, the target set by the Planning Commission to be achieved by 2011-12.

The gap of 21.59 per centage points recorded between male and female literacy rates in 2001 census reduced to 16.68 per centage points in 2011. The Planning Commission had set up a target of reducing this gap to 10 per centage points by 2011-12. Kerala has the highest literacy rate at 93.91 per cent followed by Lakshadweep at 92.28 per cent. Bihar is at the bottom of the ladder with literacy rate of 63.82 followed by Arunachal Pradesh at 66.95.