The Indian Census is the most credible source of information on Demography (Population characterstics), Economic Activity, Literacy and Education, Housing & Household Amenities, Urbanisation, Fertility and Mortality, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Language, Religion, Migration, Disability and many other socio-cultural and demographic data since 1872. Census 2011 will be the 15th National Census of the Country. This is the only source of primary data in the village ,town and ward level, It provides valuable information for planning and formulation policies for Central and the State Governments and is widely used by National and International Agencies, Scholars, business people, industrialists, and many more.
The Delimitation/reservation of Constituencies- Parliamentary/Assembly/Panchayats and other Local Bodies is also done on the basis of the demographic data thrown up by the Census. Census is te basis for reviewing the country’s progress in the past decade, monitoring the on going Schemes of the Goverment and most importantly , plan for the future. That is why the Slogan is ” Our Census – Our Future”.
Census 2011 covered 35 States/Union Territories, 640 districts, 5,924 sub-districts, 7,935 Towns and 6,40,867 Villages. In Census 2001, the corresponding figures were 593 Districts, 5,463 sub-Districts, 5,161 Towns and 6,38,588 Villages. There is an increase of 47 Districts, 461 Sub Districts, 2774 Towns (242 Statutory and 2532 Census Towns) and 2279 Villages in Census 2011 as compared to Census 2001.
Dr, C. Chandramouli is the Registrar General and census Commissioner of India
1.India’s population: Jumped to 1.21 billion an increase of more than 181 million during the 2001-11 decade
It is the first decade with the exception of 1911-21 which has actually added lesser population compared to the last decade.
2.Males : 623.7 Million
Females : 586.5 Million
3.Percentage growth of males : 17.64%
Females: 17.19%
4.India’s population accounts for 17.5% of the world population.
5.U.P. is the most populous state with 1.99 million people
6.Maharashtra 112 million people
Lakshadweep : least populated 64,429
Combined population of UP & Maharashtra is greater than that of the US
7.However during the last decade the growth rate in the six most populated states has declined as compared to 1991-2001. thus U.P. has shown a decline from 25.85% to 20.9%. and Maharashtra 22.73% to 15.99%. A.P. has shown a decline from 14.59% to 11.10%.
8.Overall sex ratio has gone up by 7 points to 940 females. (from 233 in 2001 (for thousand males)
9.Kerala has the highest sex ratio of thousand 1084 females for 1000 males.
10.Pondicherry comes next with 1038 females for 1000 males.
11.Daman & Diu : has the lowest sex ratio of 618 females for 1000 males.
12.Three major states : Jammu & Kashmir, Bihar and Gujarat have shown a decline in sex ratio as compared to
13.A matter of serious concern is the lowest ever child sex ratio of 914. The provisional data shows that the child sex ratio (0 to 6 years (came down to 914 females per 1000 males as against 927 in the 2001 census. It is clear that people prefer male children and this is particularly evident in the Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Mozoram and Andaman & Nicobar islands. The reason is increasing sex selection and female foeticide. In fact this is general tendency all over India. The total number of children below six years is now 158.8 million (it was 5 million in 2001)
14.Literacy rates have gone up from 64.83 % in 2001 to 74.04% showing an increase of 9.21%
15.Seems to be we are fast atching up with China which-19.4% of the global population. (India has 17.5% of the global population)
16.The population of India is almost equal to the combined population of USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together.
17.The literates constitute 74% of the total population.