Census
❖ Census is the basis for reviewing the country's progress in the past decade,
monitoring the ongoing schemes of the government and planning for the future.
❖ The First Non-synchronous Census was conducted in India in 1872 during the reign
of Governor-General Lord Mayo. The First synchronous census was taken under
British rule on February 17, 1881, by W.C. Plowden (Census Commissioner of
India), under the British viceroy Lord Ripon (1880-1884).
❖ The year 1921 is known as the year demographic divide because it is the only
census year when there was a decrease in the growth of the population.
❖ The first Census of Independent India began on 9th to 28th, February 1951. It is
conducted by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner,
Ministry of Home Affairs. All censuses are conducted under the Census of India Act
1948. It is under the 7th schedule of the Indian Constitution, it is listed as a Union
Subject (Article 246).
2011 Census
❖ 15th Census and 7th Census after independence (2011): India was the second
most populous country with a population of 1,210 million after China. India
occupies 2.4 percent of the world's land surface area and is home to about 17.5
percent (between 2001 and 2011) of the world's population. The growth rate of
girls was 18.3%, which was higher than the growth rate of males, which was
17.1%. Bihar has experienced the largest decadal population growth among the
main states (25.4%).
❖ Slogan - Our Census, Our Future. A Separate code for ‘Other’ (The first recorded
data on transgenders) was introduced under the sex column in this census.
Rural and Urban Population
❖ The urban population increased from 17.3% in 1951 to 31.2% in 2011. In NCT
Delhi, the proportion of urban residents is the highest (97.5 percent).
❖ The top five states in terms of the percentage of people living in cities are Goa
(62.2%), Mizoram (52.1%), Tamil Nadu (48.4%), Kerala (47.7%), and
Maharashtra (45.2 percent). Highest Populated State - Uttar Pradesh (19.98
crore), Least Populated State - Sikkim. Highest Populated (Union territory) -
National Capital Territory of Delhi, Least Populated - Lakshadweep.
Literacy
❖ It is the ability to read, write and comprehend information in order to
communicate effectively. It is the Percentage of the literate population of the age
group 7 years and above.
❖ The top 5 highest literacy rate states are Kerala (94.00%) followed by Mizoram
(91.33%), Goa, Tripura, and Himachal Pradesh.
❖ The top 5 lowest literacy rate states are Bihar (61.80%) followed by Arunachal
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh.
❖ The literacy rates from census 1951 and 2011 are mentioned as: 18.33% (1951),
74.04% (2011).
❖ The highest male literacy rate state is Kerala (96.11%), The highest female
literacy rate state is Kerala (92.07%), The lowest male literacy rate state is Bihar
(71.20%), The lowest female literacy rate state is Bihar (51.5%).
❖ The union territories with Highest literacy rates are Lakshadweep (91.85%) and
Daman and Diu (87.10%). The Serchhip district of Mizoram with 97.91% is the
most literate district in India. Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh with 36.1% is
the least literate district in India.
❖ The literacy rate at all India levels is 74.04% and the literacy rate for females and
males is 65.46% and 82.14% respectively.
Population Density
❖ Population density is the number of individuals per unit geographic area, for
example, number per square meter, per hectare, or per square kilometer.
❖ To be Qualified as an urban settlement the density of the population must be at
least 400 people per sq km and at least 75% of the population must be involved in
non-agricultural activities.
❖ The density of population in India in 2011 was 382 and the lowest is Arunachal
Pradesh (17) persons per sq km. The states with highest population density are
Bihar (1106) followed by West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana.
❖ The top union territories in terms of population density are Delhi (11320) and least
is Andaman and Nicobar (46).
Child Population
❖ There has been a 0.4% increase (from 2001 to 2011 census) in the number of
children aged 0 to 6 years.
❖ The states that do the poorest in terms of the sex ratio for children aged 0 to 6 are
Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir.
Schedule Castes
❖ States having the highest population of scheduled caste - Uttar Pradesh, West
Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra.
❖ Punjab has the highest percentage (31.9%) of scheduled castes in relation to the
overall population.
❖ Union territories such as Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep, and the state of
Nagaland have no scheduled caste population.
❖ Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Dadra Nagar Haveli,
Daman, and Diu have less than 5% scheduled caste population.
Schedule Tribes
❖ Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Delhi and Puducherry have no population of
Scheduled tribes. The states with the highest tribal population are Madhya
Pradesh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand,
Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Karnataka.
❖ Mizoram has the highest proportion of Scheduled Tribes, 94.4% of the total
population. Uttar Pradesh has the lowest proportion of scheduled tribes, 0.6% of
the total population.
Below Poverty Line (BPL)
❖ It is a benchmark used by the government of India to identify individuals and
households in need of government assistance and aid.
According to Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2019-21:
❖ Bihar, the state with the highest MPI value in NFHS-4 (2015-16), saw the fastest
reduction in MPI value in absolute terms with the proportion of multidimensional
poor reducing from 51.89% to 33.76% in 2019-21.
❖ The next fastest reduction in the MPI value was seen in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar
Pradesh. The proportion of multidimensional poor in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar
Pradesh in NFHS-5 (2019-21) are 20.63% and 22.93% respectively.
❖ In terms of number of MPI poor, Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 3.43 crore
people escaping multidimensional poverty in the last five years, followed by Bihar
(2.25 crore) and Madhya Pradesh (1.36 crore).
❖ State with lowest MPI value: Kerala (0.55%), Goa (0.84%), Tamil Nadu (2.20%).
❖ Union Territories with highest MPI value in NFHS (2019-21): Dadra and Nagar
Haveli and Daman and Diu (9.21%), Jammu and Kashmir (4.8%), Ladakh
(3.53%), Chandigarh (3.52%), Delhi (3.43%), Andaman and Nicobar Islands
(2.30%), Lakshadweep (1.11%), Puducherry (0.85%).
Sex Ratio
❖ It is defined as the number of females per 1000 males in the population. India has
a sex ratio of 943. Child sex ratio (914 females per 1000 males)
❖ The top 5 states with the highest sex ratio are Kerala (1084) followed by Tamil
Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Meghalaya. Haryana (879) has the
lowest sex ratio.
❖ The top five union territories with the highest sex ratio are Puducherry (1037),
Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar, Delhi and Chandigarh.
❖ The top five union territories with the lowest sex ratio are Daman and Diu (618),
Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Chandigarh, Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Important facts
❖ The top ten most populated urban metro cities are Mumbai (1.83 crore) followed
by Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat and
Kanpur.
❖ The state with negative growth of population between 2001 and 2011 is Nagaland
(-0.6%).
❖ Among 121.09 crores population (religions) are: Hindu 96.63 crores (79.8%),
Muslim (14.2%), Christian (2.3%), Sikh (1.7%), Buddhist (0.7%), Jain (0.4%),
others (0.9%). Muslims (14.2%) form the largest religious minority in India.
❖ As per the census of 2001, the population of India was 1027 million and in 2011
the population of India was 1210.19 million (17.64% which is more than 181
million population).
❖ Hindi has retained its position as a predominant language spoken by about
43.63%, followed by Bengali (8.03%), Marathi, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Urdu,
Kannada, Odia, Gujarati, Malayalam, Punjabi, Assamese, Maithili.
❖ The Sanskrit language is spoken by the least number of people among the 22
languages mentioned in the Eighth schedule.