DEMOGRAPHY OF INDIA

A PROFILE

Prof. S. P. Rath

DEMOGRAPHY OF INDIA A GLANCE

A. B. C.

D.

E.

IMPORTANCE MEANING AND DEFINITION NATURE OF THE STUDY * SIZE * COMPOSITION * DISTRIBUTION DEMOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF INDIA * SIZE AND GROWTH RATE OF POPULATION * DENSITY OF POPULATION * AGE COMPOSITION * LITERACY RATE * RURAL URBAN DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION SOME FACTS AND FIGURES OF OUR POPULATION

Importance
Study of demography is increasingly assuming more importance not only in India but all over the world. Primarily, ever-growing population in developing countries is straining social, economic and even political system of nations. The importance of population studies is increasing
There is realization that population explosion is hindering economic

development.

Significance of population studies was realized even in earlier period. Demography today can neither be ignored by the planners nor policy maker, nor administrators nor by academicians and politicians.

Meaning and Definition

Demography is the study of changes which take place in population
including its size, distribution and organization. It has been derived from the Latin word demos meaning people. Hence, it is the science of people. As regards definition of this term, it has been defined in various ways by different authors. Some of these are given below.

Frank Lorimar
In broad sense demography includes both demographic analysis and population studies. A broad study of demography studies both qualitative and quantitative aspects of population.

W.G. Brackley
Demography does not deal with the behaviour of individuals but only with the aggregate of people. The numerical portrayal of human population is known as demography.

Benard Benjamin

The demographer is concerned with the measuring past and forecasting future population change.

Thompson and Lewis

The most appropriate definition is given by Thompson & Lewis ; that is The population studies is concerned with the population, its size, composition and distribution and in changes in these aspects through time, and the causes of there changes as they are related to human welfare.

UNO
According to UNO under demography we study all determinants and consequences of population. Thus, demography deals with study of the components of population varieties and chance.

NATURE OF THE STUDY

Three main aspects are concerned under demography. Size and growth of the population, Composition of population and Distribution of population. Size : This deals with the number of people living in an area and what changes are taking place and how these changes are affected. In a demographic study, the concern is not only in finding out How many people live in a particular area at a given point of time Whether the number is larger than what it was, but also, What would be the likely number in future. These can be due to increase in the rates of death and birth, or on account of increased migration, etc.
1.

Nature of The Study

2.

Composition: Composition of population mainly related to certain characteristics.

Age, Sex & Literacy are most widely used characteristics of population study. According to Thompson & Lewis composition of a population affects demographic processes.

NATURE OF THE STUDY

3.

Distribution: Population distribution study is concerned with matters like

how are the people distributed what is the nature of changes in population distribution.

To find out the proportion of population living in advanced urban industrial areas, newly developing out growing urban industrial areas and rural areas and the ways in which changes are taking place in each category.

Demographic features of India

It shows mainly the number of people living in a country at a particular time, the rate at which they are growing and the composition and distribution of population.

Size and Growth rate of population:

India today possesses about 2.4 percent of the total land area of the world but she has to support about 17 percent of the world population. A study of growth rate of Indias population falls into four phases.
1891-1921: 1921-1951: 1951-1981: 1981-2001: STAGNANT POPULATION STEADY GROWTH RAPID HIGH GROWTH HIGH GROWTH WITH SIGNS OF SLOWING DOWN

TABLE -1 GROWTH OF POPULATION IN INDIA 1901-2001

Total population (in Millions) Increase or Decrease ( in Millions) Percentage increase or decrease Growth Rate

Year

1901 1911 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001

236 252 251 279 319 361 439 548 683 844 1027

-+16 -1 +28 +40 +42 +78 +109 +135 +161 +183

-5.7 -0.3 11.0 14.2 13.3 21.5 24.8 24.7 23.5 21.3 1.09 2.14 1.22 0.19

During the first phase of 20 years ( 1901-1921), the population of India grew by 15 million. The growth rate per annum was negligible, i.e. 0.19 percent per annum for the period. This stage was characterized by high birth rate and high death rate. Birth and death rates were more or less equal during this period. In this period India was in the first stage of demographic transaction, which marked by stagnant population. During the second phase of 30 years (1921-1951), the population of India grew by 110 million. The growth rate of population was 1.22 percent per annum. The growth rate was considered as moderate. During the third phase (1951-1981), the population of India grew from 361 mn from 1951 to 683 mn in 1981. The growth rate of population during this period was 2.14 percent. Compared to previous phase the growth rate is almost double. It is resulted in population explosion. Thus, India is now in the second stage of demographic transaction when death rate is low but the birth rate is high. According to latest estimate the population of India in 2005 is 1.1 billion. And it will increase to 1.4 billion by 2026. There is a projection that it may surpass China by 2025. If we compare Indias population growth with the most populous country in the world China, we can find the following facts

WORLD DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2004 India and China account for nearly 38 percent of the world population. It may be noted that the average annual growth of population has declined to 1.1 percent in China, where as in India it is still quite high at 1.9 percentage. It is a very interesting fact that India is adding one Australia to its population every year and one Japan in every Census.

Country

Population In Billion 1.1 17

Annual to total

Growth Rate

India

1.9

China

1.3

21

1.1

Density of population

The density of population is considered as one of the important demographic features. It refers to the average number of persons living per square kilometer of area within the territory of the country. It can be calculated by dividing the total population of a country by its total area.

If we compare the figure it was 77 persons living per square km. in 1901, which became 267 in 1991 and it rose to 324 per sq.km. in 2001.

As per the latest estimate of 2006 the population density per square kilometer is 338 in India. However, density of population is very unevenly distributed. Table 2 brings to us the variations observed among the different states of India.

TABLE 2 DENSITY OF POPULATION IN INDIA ( 2001)

STATES / UT
DELHI CHANDIGARH WEST BENGAL KERAL BIHAR JHARKHAND UP TAMILNADU PUNJAB HARYANA ASSAM INDIA MAHARASTRA ANDHRAPRADESH KARNATAKA

DENSITY ( 1991 )
6352 5632 767 749 497 274 548 429 403 372 286 267 257 247 235

DENSITY ( 2001)
9294 7903 904 819 880 338 689 478 482 477 340 324 314 275 275

GUJURAT
ORISSA MP CHATISHGARH RAJASTAN HIMACHALPRADESH J&K

211
203 149 133 129 93 77

258
236 196 154 165 109 99

Age Composition
The study of age composition is helpful in determining the proportion of the labour force in the total population. The working age of the population is considered as 15-60. On this basis percentage distributions of Indias population is shown in the Table -3.

TABLE 3 AGE COMPOSITION ( IN PERCENTAGE ) AGE GROUP

0-14 Year 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001 41.0 41.4 39.7 36.5 35.6 53.3 53.4 54.1 57.1 58.2 5.7 5.2 6.2 6.4 6.3 15-59 60+

This figures indicate that the proportion of child population in the 0-14 age group was 35.6 percent in 2001. The principal reason is high birth rate. A high proportion of children only reflects a large proportion of unproductive consumers. It can be observed that nearly 43 percent of the total population depends upon the rest 57 percent of the working population.

TABLE - 4 POPULATION BY BROAD AGE - GROUPS ( AGE GROUP ) PERCENTAGE POPULATION YEAR 2006 0-14 32.1 15-59 60.4 60+ 7.5 TOTAL 100

2011
2016 2021 2026

29.1
26.8 25.1 23.3

62.6
63.9 64.2 64.3

8.3
9.3 10.7 12.4

100
100 100 100

As the figure shows there is decline in the child population in 2006. It is reflect in lower birth rate. The dependency ratio is also declining. That is in 2006 nearly 40% of our population depends on the rest 60%. By 2020 25% of the Indias population will be under 15 and 64% will be in the working age group. And by this time the US will require 17 million workers, Japan 9 million, China 10 million and Russia 6 million. India can earn a rich demographic dividend if it sets about giving its young people the right skills.

Sex Composition
Sex composition gives us an idea about the number of females in a region per 1000 males.
TABLE 5 SEX RATIO IN INDIA

Year 1981 1991 2001 2006

Females / 1000 Males 934 927 933 932

It can be seen that there is a slight improvement in the sex ratio in 2001 compared to 1991 census. Among the various states of India, Kerala alone shows a higher proportion of female 1058 per 1000 males in 2001. In Orissa it is 972 per 1000 males. It is lowest in Harayana ( 861/1000) followed by Punjab (874/1000) and U.P. ( 898/1000). It is observed that poverty and IMR are the two main determining factors of a declining sex ratio.

The quality of population can be judged from life expectancy, the level of literacy and the level of technical training of the people of a country. It is presented in a Tabular form
TABLE 6 LITERACY RATE IN INDIA Year 1991 2001 Persons 52.2 65.4 Male 64.1 75.8 Female 39.3 54.1

Literacy Rate

One important and widely accepted parameter of Human Development is the percentage of literate people in the total population. Kerala has the highest literacy rate of 90.92 percent and Bihar has the lowest percentage of literates ( 47.53). In Orissa it is 63.61.

The overall literacy level in India is 65% which is far below the cent percent level of literacy achieved in Australia, Canada, UK and the US.

Rural Urban Distribution of Population

Another notable feature of a countrys population is the distribution pattern

of the population in rural and urban areas.

Urbanization is taken as an index for economic development. Urbanization refers to the settlement of people in the urban areas coming from rural areas. This takes place because of the growth of industries, availability of education and health care facilities, development of transport and communication and greater areas for employment. Higher rate of growth of population leads to the increase of the member of rural labours seeking employment. They come to the urban sector, increasing the number of the urban population. In India rural-urban migration has been visibly observed in our demographic scenario. It can be observed from the table.

TABLE - 7 RURAL URBAN DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION

1921 1921 1931 1941 1951 1961 1971 1981 1991 2001

Rural 88.7 87.8 85.9 82.7 82.0 80.1 76.7 74.3 72.2

Urban 11.3 12.2 14.1 17.3 18.0 19.9 23.3 25.7 27.8

Percentage increase in urban Population -+19.1 +32.1 +43.2 +25.3 +38.0 +46.8 +35.6 +31.2

It can be visible from the table that rural urban migration has become a persistent and continues phenomenon in our demographic map. Migration is a critical aspect of the demographic trends. Currently 27.8% of the population is urbanized in India but this is expected to rise to 40.7% by 2030 and even more.

SOME OF THE RAPID URBANIZARS ARE

RAPID URBANIZARS 2007 2015 2025

PUNJAB
GUJURAT TAMILNADU MAHARASTRA MIZORAM

37
39.3 50.9 44.9 52.0

40.8
41.7 59.1 48.0 54.8

45.8
44.8 68.7 51.9 58.3

SLOW URBANIZARS 2007 WESTBENGAL 28.3 2015 28.7 2025 29.2

BIHAR
ASSAM UP ORISSA INDIA

10.5
14.2 21.5 16.1 29.2

10.5
16.0 22.5 17.6 31.1

10.5
18.4 23.5 19.7 33.3

It is evident that urbanization is a very slow process in India. With a showing down of the population growth rate in the coming decades and with an acceleration in the tempo of industrialization, it is expected that the extent of urbanization in India may show a significant change. Thus, the study of demography is of utmost importance due to its application in solving many population problem, may it be political, economic, social and administrative.
Particularly economy of a country cannot be studied independently of its population and as such economic development. The increasing growth rate of population lowers per capita income, standard of living and put pressure as limited Natural Resources, food supply, housing, education, employment, health etc. Demography as a subject is increasingly becoming popular on account of their practical utility in every walk of life. it is also assuming popularity and importance because it is closely related to other subjects of social sciences.

Rural Urban Income Disparity

Particulars 1980 to 1981 1993 to 1994 1999 to 2000 U R U Rural Urban R
Share in NDP

58.88 41.12
76.88 23.12 1245 2.32 2888 -

54.27 45.73 48.09 51.91

73.51 26.49 72.53 27.47 5783 1352 1060 3021 5 6 7 2.34 2.85 -

Share in Population (%) PCI at Current Prices (Rs.) Ratio on Urban Income to Rural Income

Rural Urban Income Disparity

Over 73 % of people live in rural area, while they get only 48 % of National income. It also shows the per capita income differential between rural and urban sector. The ratio of rural - urban per capita income ahs been increasing indicating that PCI in the urban areas is almost three times that of rural areas.

State Domestic Product

Widening Disparity between the Richest and Poorest States

Income disparity between States

There was a sharp increase in regional inequality in India during the 1990s. In 2002-2003, the per capita Net State Domestic Product (NSDP) of the richest state, Punjab, was about 4.7 times that of Bihar, the poorest state. This ratio had increased from 4.2 in 1993-1994. The time-series graph of this ratio shows that the disparity between the richest and poorest state shot up remarkably during the 1990s

SOME FACTS ONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT OUR POPULATION

The growth rate of the labour force is faster than that of the population. While the population is expected to grow by 1.4% per annum during the eleventh plan period the labour force is expected to grow by 2%. The Teacher Pupil ratio in Indian primary schools is 1:41, while in China it is 1:21. Female labour force participation rate has increased marginally from 42% in 1990 to 45% in 2005. According to UNESCO 13.5 million Indian children are not enrolled in schools. There are also most 40 million slums in India.
Although the task is tough if India provides the right environment for the army of young people then it can became a prosperous nation. If not it will remain a poor country.

Thank You