India is now officially a 1.21 billion-strong nation registering a 17.7 per cent increase in its population over the last decade. But amid the worries of a burgeoning population what is heartening is that not only has the growth in number of females (90.99 million) been more than males (90.97 million) but in terms of literacy too the fair sex has outshone their male counterparts -- 10.9 per cent as against 5.6 per cent.
According to the preliminary data of Census 2011, released by Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Tuesday, India’s total population as on March 1, 2011 was 1,210,726,932 or 1.21 billion — an increase of 181.96 million people in absolute number of population during 2001-11.
The sex ratio of the population in the country in 2011 stands at 943 female against 1,000 males, which is 10 per thousand more than the last Census when the number of females per thousand males stood at 933. Nevertheless, Haryana (879), Jammu and Kashmir (889), Punjab (895), Bihar (918) and Uttar Pradesh (912) continue to present a grim scenario with a skewed sex ratio.
Though India’s urban population has increased by 31.2 cent in the last 60 years, more than two-third of the country’s populace (833.5 million) still reside in rural areas. Highest proportion of urban population is in NCT Delhi (97.5 per cent) followed by Goa (62.2 per cent), Mizoram (52.1 per cent), Tamil Nadu (48.4 per cent), Kerala (47.7 per cent) and Maharashtra (45.2 per cent).
The growth rate of females was 18.3 per cent, higher than the males at 17.1 per cent.Compared to the 2001 Census, the latest data suggests family planning policy has worked. While this time the growth of population was 17.7 percent, in 2001 recorded 21.5 per cent growth when compared with 1991 census.
Among the major states, highest growth in population has been recorded in Bihar (25.4 per cent) while 14 states and Union Territories have recorded population growth above 20 per cent. Five top performing States in terms of sex ratio were Kerala (1,084 females), Tamil Nadu (996), Andhra Pradesh (993), Chhattisgarh (991), Odisha (979).
Child population in the age of 0 to 6 years has seen an increase of 0.4 per cent to 164.5 million in 2011 from 163.8 million in 2001. The child population (0-6) is almost stationary. In 17 states and UTs, the child population has declined in 2011 compared to 2001.
With the declaration of sex ratio in the age group 0-6, the Census authorities tried to bring out the recent changes in the society in its attitude and outlook towards the girl child.
literacy rate in India in 2011 has increased by 8 per cent to 73 per cent in comparison to 64.8 per cent in 2001. While male literacy rate stands at 80.9 per cent — which is 5.6 per cent more than the previous census, the female literacy rate stands at 64.6 per cent — an increase of 10.9 per cent than 2001.
The highest increase took place in Dadra and Nagar Haveli by 18.6 points (from 57.6 per cent to 76.2 per cent), Bihar by 14.8 points (from 47.0 per cent to 61.8 per cent), Tripura by 14.0 points (from 73.2 per cent to 87.2 per cent).
Improvement in female literacy is higher than males in all states and UTs, except Mizoram (where it is same in both males and females) during 2001-11. The gap between literacy rate in urban and rural areas is steadily declining in every census. Gender gap in literacy rate is steadily declining in every census. In Census 2011, the gap stands at 16.3 points.
Top five States and UTs, where literacy rate is the highest, are Kerala (94 per cent), lakshadweep (91.8 per cent), Mizoram (91.3 per cent), Goa (88.7 per cent) and Tripura (87.2). The bottom five States and UTs are Bihar (61.8 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh
(65.4 per cent), Rajasthan (66.1 per cent), Jharkhand (66.4 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (67 per cent).