Census 2011

Date: 20th Jan 2012

Did You Know?

- 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.
- Census 2011 is the 15 Census of India since 1872. It was held in two phases:
House listing & Housing Census: (April to September 2010)
Population Enumeration (9th to 28th February 2011)
- Census 2011 mascot is a female enumerator (who everybody would identify as the school teacher next
door).
- The provisional figures of Indias largest Census 2011 were released in New Delhi on 31st March 2011
by Union Home Secretary GK Pillai and RGI C Chandramouli.
- The 15th Census of India and the seventh Census of Independent India-2011 was started on 1st April
2010 with President Pratibha Patil being the first citizen to be enumerated, followed by Vice President
Hamid Ansari.
- The estimated cost of the Census was 22 Billion Rupees.

Census 2011: Figures at a Glance

Persons
POPULATION

Males
Females

DECADAL
POPULATION GROWTH
2001-2011

Absolute
%age to
1,21,01,93,422total
62,37,24,248 population
58,64,69,174

Absolute

%age

Persons

18,14,55,986

17.64

Males

9,15,01,158

17.19

Females

8,99,54,828

18.12

DENSITY OF POPULATION
(per sq. km.)
SEX RATIO (females per
1000 males)
POPULATIO
N IN
THE AGE
GROUP 0-6
Persons
Males

382
940

15,87,89,287
8,29,52,135

13.12
13.3

Females

7,58,37,152
Absolute

LITERATE

12.93
Literacy
rate

Persons

77,84,54,120

74.04

Males

44,42,03,762

82.14

Females

33,42,50,358

65.46

India: A Statistical Overview

A. Population
- Indias population in 1901 was about 238.4 million, which has increased by more than four times in

110 years to reach a population of 1,210 million (or 121 crore) in 2011.
- The population of India has increased by more than 181 million during the decade 2001-2011. The
absolute addition is slightly lower than the population of Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the
world.
- India is the second largest country in the world in terms of population after China (1.34 billion). The
three most populous countries in the world, China (1.34 billion), India (1.21 billion) and USA (308.7
million) together constitute more than 40% of the total population of the world.
- The decadal growth of population for India as a whole has declined from 23.87% in 1981-91 to 21.54%
in 1991-2001 to 17.64% in 2001-11. Decadal Growth Rate of population during 2001 -11 of the six most
populous States, (i.e., Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya
Pradesh), have all declined during 2001-11 compared to the previous decade (1991-2001).
- The growth rate of population in rural and urban areas was 12.18% and 31.80% respectively. Bihar
(23.90%) exhibited the highest decadal growth rate in rural population.
- Of the total population, 623.7 million are males and 586.5 million are females. Population (0-6 years)
2001-2011 registered minus (-) 3.08 % growth with minus (-) 2.42 females and 3.80 for females.
- The combined population of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra is bigger than that of the US.

- While Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Puducherry have the highest population growth rate of about 55 %,
Nagaland has the lowest -0.47 %.
- The density of population is highest in Delhi, followed by Chandigarh.
Five Largest Populous State of the country
Uttar Pradesh

19,95,81,477

Maharashtra

11,23,72,972

Bihar

10,38,04,637

West Bengal

9,13,47,736

Andhra Pradesh

8,46,65,533

Highest Populous State :

Uttar Pradesh
Five Least Populous State of the country
Lakshadweep

64429

Daman & Diu

2,42,911

D. & N. Haveli

3,42,853

A. & N. Islands

3,79,944

Sikkim

6,07,688

Least Populous UTs :

Lakshadweep

Ranking of States and Union Territories by population: 2001 and 2011

Rank In
2011

India/State/Union Territory#

Population 2011

% to total population of India

2011

2
INDIA

Rank in 2001

2001

1,210,193,422

100

100

199,581,477

16.49

16.16

Uttar Pradesh

Maharashtra

112,372,972

9.29

9.42

Bihar

103,804,637

8.58

8.07

West Bengal

91,347,736

7.55

7.79

Andhra Pradesh

84,665,533

7.41

Madhya Pradesh

72,597,565

5.87

Tamil Nadu

72,138,958

5.96

6.07

Rajasthan

68,621,012

5.67

5.49

Karnataka

61,130,704

5.05

5.14

10

Gujarat

60,383,628

4.99

4.93

10

11

Orissa

41,947,358

3.47

3.58

11

12

Kerala

33,387,677

2.76

3.1

12

13

Jharkhand

32,966,238

2.72

2.62

13

14

Assam

31,169,272

2.58

2.59

14

15

Punjab

27,704,236

2.29

2.37

15

16

Chhattisgarh

25,540,196

2.11

2.03

17

17

Haryana

25,353,081

2.09

2.06

16

18

NCT of Delhi#

16,753,235

1.38

1.35

18

19

Jammu & Kashmir

12,548,926

1.04

0.99

19

20

Uttarakhand

10,116,752

0.84

0.83

20

21

Himachal Pradesh

6,856,509

0.57

0.59

21

22

Tripura

3,671,032

0.3

0.31

22

23

Meghalaya

2,964,007

0.24

0.23

23

24

Manipur

2,721,756

0.22

0.22

24

25

Nagaland

1,980,602

0.16

0.19

25

26

Goa

1,457,723

0.12

0.13

26

27

Arunachal Pradesh

1,382,611

0.11

0.11

27

28

Puducherry#

1,244,464

0.1

0.09

28

29

Mizoram

1,091,014

0.09

0.09

30

30

Chandigarh

1,054,686

0.09

0.09

29

31

Sikkim

607,688

0.05

0.05

31

32

Andaman & Nicobar Islands#

379,944

0.03

0.03

32

33

Dadra & Nagar Haveli#

342,853

0.03

0.03

33

34

Daman & Diu#

242,911

0.02

0.02

34

64,429

0.01

0.01

35

35

Lakshadweep

India population Vs Selected Countries

Reference date

Population

Decadal
change

(In millions)

(in %)

Sl. No

Country

China

01.11.2010

1,341.00

5.43

India

01.03 2011

1,210.20

17.64

U.S.A

01.04.2010

308.7

7.26

Indonesia

31.05.2010

237.6

15.05

Brazil

01.08.2010

190.7

9.39

Pakistan

01.07.2010

184.8

24.78

Bangladesh

01.07.2010

164.4

16.76

Nigeria

01.07.2010

158.3

26.84

Russian Fed.

01.07.2010

140.4

-4.29

10

Japan

01.10.2010

128.1

1.1

Other Countries

01.07.2010

2,844.70

15.43

World

01.07.2010

6,908.70

12.97

1. For China, USA, Indonesia, Brazil and Japan, population are as per the preliminary/ provisional Census figures provided in the
respective Government websites. For comparability with Census 2000 figures, the population of Japan before adjustment has
been considered.
2. Source for other countries: World Population Prospects: 2008 updated in May 2010 by United Nations Population Division. The
estimates are medium Variant.

3. The % decadal changes for China, Indonesia and Brazil have been adjusted to take care of the change in reference dates of
two consecutive censuses of 2000 and 2010.

The gap between India, the country with the second largest population in the world and China, the
country with the largest population in the world has narrowed from 238 million in 2001 to nearly
131 million in 2011.

The gap between India and the United States of America, which has the third largest population,
has now widened to about 902 million from 741 million in 2001.

In 1950, China with 22 % share of the world population was the worlds most populous country,
followed by India, which had a share of 14.2 %.

The population of India is almost equal to the combined population of U.S.A., Indonesia, Brazil,
Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together- the population of these six countries totals 1214.3
million!

Population Growth, GDP and Foodgrain Production, India: 1950-1951 to 2010-2011

It is expected that by 2050 the worlds population will reach 9.1 billion, 34% higher than today. Nearly
all of this population increase will occur in developing countries. Urbanization will continue at an
accelerated pace, and about 70% of the worlds population will be urban (compared to 49% today).
Income levels will be many multiples of what they are now. In order to feed this larger, more urban and
richer population, food production (net of food used for biofuels) must increase by 70%. 1
Population Growth, GDP and Foodgrain Production, India: 1950-1951 to 2010-2011

The above table shows that on the economic front, the GDP at factor cost at constant prices has grown
annually by more than 10.2% during 2001-10.
During the same period, the food grain production has reached 218.2 million tonnes in 2009-10 from
196.8 million tonnes in 2000-01, showing an annual exponential growth rate of food grain production
during 2001-2010 at 1.15%, still a shade lower than the population growth rate during 2001-2011.
However, if the targeted improvement in food-grain production of 8.5%, as envisaged in the Union
Budget document 2011-12, is actually achieved for the two successive years of 2010-11 and 2011-12,
the average annual growth in food-grain production for 2001-12 would touch about 1.5%, making it
somewhat similar to the growth in population during this period. However, a comparison with other
countries of the world, in terms of the Human Development Index, Per Capita GDP and 2010 Global
Hunger Index (ranked 67 from 65 slipped) shows India has a long way to go.
(The index rated 84 countries on the basis of three leading indicators prevalence of child malnutrition, rate of
child mortality, and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient.)
1)
2)

http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/docs/expert_paper/How_to_Feed_the_World_in_2050.pdf
GDP and Output of foodgrains from Economic Survey, 2010-11. GDP (quick estimate) and foodgrain production (4th advance
estimate) correspond to 2009-2010

Share of children in the age group 0-6 years to total population, India: 2001 and 2011

2001

2011

B.

Sex Ratio (No of women/1000 males)

After 1971 Census, trends were not consistent, showing increase in one decade and decline in the next.
However, it was hovering around 930. The sex ratio as per provisional results is the highest since 1971
and a shade below the level of 1961.
Sex-ratio in India

940

Child (0-6yrs.) sex-ratio

914

Highest sex-ratio in state

Kerala (1084)

Lowest sex-ratio in UTs

Daman & Diu (618)

Highest child(0-6) sex-ratio in state

Mizoram (971)

Lowest child(0-6) sex-ratio in state

Haryana (830)

Trends in sex ratio in States and UTs: 2001-2011

- As per Census 2011, Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Gujarat showed a decline in sex ratio while
29 states showed an increase.
- The top three States recording the highest value of overall sex ratio are neighbours located in the
southern part of India namely Kerala (1084), Tamil Nadu (995), and Andhra Pradesh (992). Among the
UTs, the top three are Puducherry (1038), Lakshadweep (946) and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands
(878). Figure 20 presents sex ratio in the States and Union Territories at the 2011 Census.
- The lowest sex ratio among the States has been recorded in Haryana (877), Jammu & Kashmir (883)
and Sikkim (889). Among the UTs the lowest sex ratio has been returned in Daman & Diu (618), Dadra &
Nagar Haveli (775) and Chandigarh (818).

Sex Ratio, India: 1901-2011

Sex Ratio: India Vs Selected Countries3

3. 2001-World Population Prospects (mid year estimates) 1998 2. 2011-World Population Prospects 2008 revision UN. Rates have
been worked out for India based on the provisional Census 2011 and those of Indonesia and Brazil on 2010 round of Census.

C. Literacy Rate
Prior to all the census data reported up to 1981, it was customary to work out the literacy rate taking
into account the total population. However, as literacy rate is more meaningful if the sub-population in
the age group 0-6 is excluded from the total population, it was decided in 1991 to calculate literacy
rate for the population seven years and above. The same concept has been retained in all Censuses
since 1991.
The literacy rate taking into account the total population in the denominator has now been termed as
crude literacy rate, while the literacy rate calculated taking into account the 7 and above population
in the denominator is called the effective literacy rate. The formula for computing crude literacy rate
and effective literacy rate are as follows:

Literacy Rate: Trends

- The effective literacy rate has gone up from 64.83% in 2001 to 74.04% in 2011 showing an increase of
9.21%.
- The effective literacy rate figures for males and females are 82.14 and 65.46% respectively. Thus
three-fourth of the population of aged 7 years and above is literate in the country. Four out of every
five males and two out of every three females in the country are literate.
- The country has continued its march in improving literacy rate by recording a jump of 9.21 %age
points during 2001-2011. However, efforts are still required to achieve the target of 85 % set by the
Planning Commission to be achieved by the year 2011-12.
- An extremely positive development in the present decade is that the gap of 21.59 %age points
recorded between male and female literacy rates in 2001 Census has reduced to 16.68 %age points in
2011. Though the target set for the year 2011-2012 by the Planning Commission of reducing the gap to
10 %age points has not been achieved, yet the 5 %age point reduction is a welcome step in that
direction.
- Decadal Literacy Growth 2001-20011
Literacy rate has gone up from 64.83 % in 2001 to 74.04 % in 2011 showing an increase of
9.21 %age points.
%age growth in literacy during 2001-2011 is 38.82; males: 31.98% & females: 49.10%.
The state of Kerala has the highest literacy rate 93.11%, whereas Bihar has the lowest 63.82%.
Literacy rate in India: 1951-2011

Literacy rates for 1951, 1961 and 1971 Censuses relate to population aged five years and above. The rates for the 1981,
1991, 2001 and 2011 Census relate to the population aged seven years and above
The 1981 Literacy rates exclude Assam where the 1981 Census could not be conducted. The 1991 Census Literacy rates
exclude Jammu & Kashmir.
Effective Literacy Trends in EAG* States
Number of literates and illiterates among population aged 7

years and above: 2001 and 2011

2001-2011

* The Government of India had constituted an Empowered Action Group (EAG) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
following 2001 census to stabilise population in eight states that were lagging in containing population. As per the latest
census, EAG states Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha have
shown little improvement. They cover over 45% of Indias population)

Share of Literates and illiterates: Census 2001 and 2011

D. Density of Population

Density of Population is defined as the number of persons per square kilometre. It is an important
index of population which shows concentration of population in a particular area.
-

As per the provisional population totals of Census 2011, the population density of India has gone up
to 382 persons per square kilometre from 325 persons per square kilometre in 2001. On an
average, 57 more people inhabit every square kilometre in the country as compared to a decade
ago.

The density of population is highest in Delhi, followed by Chandigarh

The Eastern region has the highest density of 625 persons per sq. Km. and the North Eastern region
has the lowest density of 176 persons per sq. Km. Central region occupies the second highest place
in density with 417 followed by Southern region (397), Western region (344) and Northern region
(267) respectively.

Density of population, India: 1901-2011

* While working out the density of India, Jammu & Kashmir has been excluded as comparable figures of area and Population are
not available for that State.
* The density has been worked out on comparable data.

Some Positive Outcomes

-

Literacy rate has shown an increase from 64.83% in 2001 to 74.04% in 2011showing an increase of
9.21 %age points.

Sex Ration, an indicator of the well-being of women in a society, at the national level increased by
seven points to reach 940 as provisional data for Census 2011 against 933 in Census 2001. This is
the highest sex ratio at the national level since Census 1971.

The %age decadal growth rates of the six most populous States have declined during 2001-2011 as
compared to 1991-2001. The graph of population growth in Uttar Pradesh shows a decline from
25.85% to 20.09%, in Maharashtra from 22.73% to 15.99%, Bihar from 28.62% to 25.07%, West Bengal
from 17.77% to 13.93%, Andhra Pradesh from 14.59% to 11.10% and Madhya Pradesh from 24.26% to
20.30%. This trend shows although there has been an increase in the population, the growth has
been less.

2001-2011 is the first decade (with the exception of 1911-1921) when population has grown less
than in previous decade

With the exception of Jammu & Kashmir, where the %age share of children in total population has
increased by 1.4 points, all other States and Union Territories have shown a fall in the proportion.
The highest decline in %age terms has been noticed in Sikkim, with Uttar Pradesh and Arunachal
Pradesh taking the next two spots. It is significant that the decline in proportion of child
population in the age group of 0-6 years has been seen in all EAG States- Uttar Pradesh (-4.1),
Uttarakhand (-2.9), Bihar (-2.3); Jharkhand (-2.5), Rajasthan (-3.5), Madhya Pradesh (-3.3),
Chhattisgarh (-3.0) and Orissa (-2.6). In 10 States and Union Territories, the decline is below 2
points; in 14 States and Union Territories it is between 2 and 3 points and in 10 States and Union
Territories, it is 3 points or more. This is definitely a positive indicator of fertility decline and
augurs well for the future.

In terms of population density, while the absolute increase is indeed a matter of concern, the
positive feature is that the rate of increase has slowed down and has shown a sharp decline in the
last decade.