The census was also mentioned in Kautilya’s Arthashastra and Ain-i-
Akbari (1595 AD) authored by Abul Fazl.
The first census was conducted in 1872 by Lord Mayo during British
Rule.
In 1881, a systematic enumeration of the population started every ten
years from the time of Lord Ripon and that continues to this day.
Since then, Fifteen censuses in India have been conducted so far.
The first census of independent India was held in 1951, under the
Census Commissioner, R A Gopalaswamy.
The Census 2011 was the 15th and the seventh of Independent India.
The census of the country is the subject of the Union List, i.e. the census
work is undertaken under the direction of the Central Government.
The census organization functions under the Union Ministry of Home
Affairs. Its higher authority is called Registrar General and Census
Commissioner of India.
In the demographic history of India, the year 1921 is called the Great
Division Year because the decadal growth of population in India from
1911 to 1921 was negative (-0.31%).
India possesses 2.4 per cent of the complete land region of the world
while India’s population is 17.5% of the total population living on this
planet.
Key Facts of Census 2011 :
The annual growth rate of the population has decreased from 1.97% to
1.64% while the decadal growth rate has come down from 21.54% to
17.7%.
The Crude Birth Rate (CBR) at the National level during 2011 stands at
21.8 exhibiting a decline of 0.3 points over 2010.
The decadal growth rate in Nagaland remained negative (-0.6%).
India’s population density has increased from 325 persons per sq km to
382 persons per sq km.
The sex ratio has improved from 933 to 943.
The child sex ratio (0-6 years) has declined from 927 to 919.
The number of literate people has increased from 64.8% to 73% of the
total population of India. Male Literacy has improved from 75.26% to
80.9% and female literacy from 53.67% to 64.6%.
According to the Census 2011, the urban population was 31.1%, the
rural population is 68.9% of the total population of the country.
Rajasthan is the largest state in terms of area, while Goa is the smallest.
The largest State in terms of population is Uttar Pradesh while the
smallest state by population is Sikkim.
Decadal Population Growth (DGR) = (Present Population-Previous
Population)/ Previous Population ×100
The four states with the highest decadal growth are Meghalaya (27.9%),
Arunachal Pradesh (26%), Bihar (25.4%), Manipur (24.5%).
Four states with the lowest decadal growth are Nagaland (- 0.6%),
Kerala (4.9%), Goa (8.2%) and Andhra Pradesh (11%).
The number of females per 1000 males is called Sex Ratio Sex ratio.
(Number of females)/(Number of males) ×1000
The 4 states with the highest sex ratio are Kerala (1084), Tamil Nadu
(996), Andhra Pradesh (993) and Chhattisgarh (991).
The four states with the lowest sex ratio are Haryana (879), Jammu and
Kashmir (889), Sikkim (890) and Punjab (895).
The number of girls in the age group of 0-6 years as compared to per
1000 boys in the age group of 0-6 is called Child Sex Ratio.
Child Sex Ratio= Number of Girls (0-6 years) /Number of Boys (0-6
years)/1000.
The four states with the highest child sex ratio are Arunachal Pradesh
(972), Mizoram (970), Meghalaya (970) and Chhattisgarh (969).
The four states with the lowest sex ratio are Haryana (834), Punjab (846),
Jammu and Kashmir (862) and Rajasthan (888).
Literacy : Those in the age group of 7 years or more can read and write
are called literates.
The literacy rate of the population is the percentage of literate persons
out of the total population in the age group of 7 years or more.
The four states with the highest literacy rates are Kerala (94%),
Mizoram (91.3%), Goa (88.7%) and Tripura (87.2%).
The four states with the lowest literacy rates are Bihar (61.8%),
Arunachal Pradesh (65.4%), Rajasthan (66.1%) (4) Jharkhand (66.4%).
The four states with the highest rural population (in descending order)
are Himachal Pradesh (90%), Bihar (88.7%), Assam (85.9%) and Odisha
(83.3%).
The four states with the highest urban population in relative numbers are
Goa (62.2%), Mizoram (52.1), Tamil Nadu (48.4%) and Kerala (47.7%).