Population in villages

1. India is the second most populous country in the world with nearly a fifth of the world's population. According to the
United Nations in July 2016, the population stood at 1,326,801,576.
India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2022, surpassing China, its population reaching 1.7
billion by 2050. Thus, India is expected to become the first political entity in history to be home to more than 1.5
billion people. Its population growth rate is 1.2%, ranking 94th in the world in 2013. The Indian population had
reached the billion mark by 1998.
India has more than 50% of its population below the age of 25 and more than 65% below the age of 35. It is
expected that, in 2020, the average age of an Indian will be 29 years, compared to 37 for China and 48 for Japan;
and, by 2030, India's dependency ratio should be just over 0.4.
India has more than two thousand ethnic groups,[11]
and every major religion is represented, as are four
major families of languages (Indo-European, Dravidian, Austroasiatic and Sino-Tibetan languages) as well as
two language isolates (the Nihali language spoken in parts of Maharashtra and the Burushaski language spoken in
parts of Jammu and Kashmir).
Further complexity is lent by the great variation that occurs across this population on social parameters such as
income and education. Only the continent of Africa exceeds the linguistic, genetic and cultural diversity of the nation
of India.
The sex ratio is 944 females for 1000 males (2016).
Rural population (% of total population) in India
Rural population (% of total population) in India was last measured at 67.25 in 2015,
according to the World Bank. Rural population refers to people living in rural areas as defined
by national statistical offices. It is calculated as the difference between total population and
urban population.This page has the latest values, historical data, forecasts, charts, statistics,
an economic calendar and news for Rural population (% of total population) in India.
Population history
It has been estimated that the population was about 100 million in 1600 and remained nearly static until the late 19th
century. It reached 255 million according to the first census taken in 1881.
Studies of India's population since 1881 have focused on such topics as total population, birth and death ra tes,
growth rates, geographic distribution, literacy, the rural and urban divide, cities of a million, and the three cities with
populations over eight million: Delhi, Greater Mumbai (Bombay), and Kolkata (Calcutta).
Mortality rates fell in the period 1920–45, primarily due to biological immunisation. Other factors included rising
incomes, better living conditions, improved nutrition, a safer and cleaner environment, and better official health
policies and medical care.
Occupation of land
India occupies 2.41% of the world's land area but supports over 18% of the world's population. At the 2001 census
72.2% of the population[19]
lived in about 638,000 villages[20]
and the remaining 27.8%[19]
lived in more than 5,100
towns and over 380 urban agglomerations.[21]
India's population has exceeded that of the entire continent of Africa by 200 million people.[22]
However, because
Africa's population growth is nearly double that of India, it is expected to surpass both China and India by 2025.
The Census of India 2001 has been an historic and epoch making census, being the first census of the third
millennium. It has produced wealth of data on the state of abundant human resources inhabiting the country, their
demographic and economic structure, social and other characteristics.

2. The total geo-graphical area of the country is 3,287,240 sq.km. This includes 120,849 sq. km. of area under the
illegal occupation of Pakistan and China. The largest state in India in terms of geographical area is Rajasthan with
an area of 342,239 sq.km.
The total population of India at the 00.00 hours of 1st March 2001 stood at 1,028,737,436 comprising
532,223,090 males and 496,514,346 females.
At the International level, India accounts only 2.4 percent of the world surface are and yet it supports and sustains
16.9 percent of the world population. In 150 China with 22 percent of population led the world followed by India with
14.2 percent. It is estimated that by 2050, India will overtake China to become the most populous country on the
earth with about 17.2 percent population living here.
Uttar Pradesh with a population of more than 166 million holds distinction of being the most populous state in the
country followed by Maharashtra (97 million) and Bihar (83 million). The other large states, in terms of population
size are West Bengal (80 million),Andhra Pradesh (76 million), Tamil Nadu (62 million), Madhya Pradesh (60
million), Rajasthan (57 million) and Gujarat (51 million). These states together account for 76 percent of the total
population of the country.
Among the union territories, Delhi (13.8 million) ranks first in terms of population whereas Lakshadweep with a
population of 60,650 occupies the lowest rank.
The population of the country is on the rise. India lives in its villages. Due to diverse geographical terrain the size of
the villages in small, in plain areas the villages tend to be bigger. Out of a total of 5.94 lakh inhabited villa ges in the
country, the largest number of villages (1.45 lakh)are in the population size group of 500-999 persons, followed by
the groups 100-1999 (1.30 lakh) and 200-499 (1.28 lakh). There are 3,961 villages, which have a population of
10,000 persons or more.
TABLE 1: NUMBER OF VILLAGES AND Urban Areas / TOWNS BY SIZE CLASS AND THEIR POPULATION
Population
Persons@ 1,028,737,436
Males 532,223,090
Females 496,514,346
Rural 742,617,747
Urban 286,119,689
% Urban population
27.8%
Ranges
No. of
villages
Population Ranges
No. of Urban
Areas/Towns
Population
Less than 100 45,276 2,274,375 Less than 5000 192 667,772
100-199 46,276 6,912,023 5,000-9,999 879 6,658,356
200-499 127,511 43,960,187 10,000-19,999 1,346 19,458,295
500-999 145,402 105,274,341 20,000-49,999 1,163 35,154,857
1,000-1,999 129,977 183,294,133 50,000-99,999 404 27,832,412
2,000-9,999 80,413 239,184,866 1,00,000-4,99,999 320 60,554,358
5,000-9,999 14,799 98,112,136 5,00,000-9,99,999 39 27,503,626
10,000 & above 3,961 63,478,578 10,00,000-& above 35 108,290,013
TOTAL 593,615 742,490,639 Total 4,378 286,119,689
Source : Primary Census Abstract, India, Census of India 2001.
As in case of the villages, the Urban Areas/towns also very considerably in terms of population size. Largest
numbers of UAs / towns are in the population size group 10,000 to 19,999 persons with 1,346 UAs / towns falling in
this group. The total number of UAs / towns with more than one million populations is 35. Mumbai Urban
Agglomeration with 1604 million populations is the largest UA in terms of Population, followed by Kolkata UA (13.2
million) and Delhi UA (12.9 million).

3. Area And Population :
Ranges No. of villages Population
5,000-9,999 14,799 98,112,136
10,000 & above 3,961 63,478,578
Total 593,615 742,490,639
Source : Primary Census Abstract, India, Census of India 2001.
About 70 per cent Indians live in rural areas:
Census report
Nearly 70 per cent of thecountry’spopulation livesin ruralareas where,forthe first time since independence,theoverall
growthrateof population hassharply declined,according to thelatestCensus.
Of the 121 crore Indians,83.3 crore live in rural areaswhile 37.7 crore stay in urban areas,said theCensusof India’s2011
ProvisionalPopulation Totalsof Rural-UrbanDistribution in the country,released by Union HomeSecretary R.K. Singh.

4. “For the firsttime since independence,theabsoluteincreasein population ismorein urban areasthan in rural areas.The
rural-urban distribution is68.84 per cent and 31.16 per cent respectively,”RegistrarGeneral of India and Census
CommissionerC.Chandramoulisaid.
The level of urbanisation increased from27.81 per cent in the 2001 Censusto 31.16 per cent in the 2011 Census,while
the proportion of ruralpopulation declined from72.19 per cent to 68.84 per cent.
“The slowing down of the overallgrowthrateof population isdueto the sharp decline in the growth ratein rural areas,
while the growthratein urban areasremainsalmostthe same,”Mr.Chandramoulisaid.
However,according to the report,the numberof birthsin rural areashaveincreased by nine crore in the last decade.The
statistics revealthat while the maximumnumberof peopleliving in rural areasin a particularstate is 15.5 crore in Uttar
Pradesh,Mumbaitopsthelist having themaximumnumberof peoplein urban areasatfive crore.
The dataalso reflects that 18.62 per cent of the country’sruralpopulation livesin UttarPradesh and 13.48 per cent
urban population livesin Maharashtra.
During 2001-11, the rate of growthof rural population hasbeen 12.18 per cent.The growth of thecountry’srural
population issteadily declining since 1991, the reportsaid.
Meghalaya (27per cent) and Bihar (24 per cent) witnessed thelargest growth in population among Statesin thepast
decade.FourStatesthatrecorded a decline in therural population during 2001-11 are Kerala (by 26 per cent),Goa (19
per cent),Nagaland (15per cent) and Sikkim (5 per cent).
Though thegrowthrateof population in rural areasof Empowered Action Group (EAG) Statesis nearly three times that
in rural areasin non EAG states,it is for the firsttime thatsignificantfall of growth rateis seen in the rural areasof EAG
states.The EAG statesare Rajasthan,UttarPradesh,Uttarakhand,Bihar,Jharkhand,Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh and
Orissa.
According to the report,though theurban child sex ratio is far worsethan thatin rural areas,thefall in child sex ratio in
rural areasis around fourtimesthat in urban areas.However,thedecline in the child sex ratio is moregradualin urban
areas,the reportsaid.There is a decline of 8.9 million children in rural areaswhile urban areashaveshown increaseof
3.9 million children.
The datashowsthereis an increasein theoverall sex ratio in the country from933 in 2001 to 940 in 2011. However,the
improvementin the overall sex ratio is largely in urban areas.
In ruralareas in the country therehasbeen an increase by only 1 pointfrom946 in 2001 to 947 in 2011. In urban areas
there hasbeen an appreciablegain of 26 pointsfrom900 in 2001 to 926 in 2011.
In 10 statesand Union Territories, theurban sex ratio is higher than therural sex ratio in Census2011. This includes
Tamil Nadu,Kerala and NationalCapitalTerritory of Delhi, the reportsaid.

5. India’s population has jumped to 1.21 billion, showing an increase by more than 181 million during the 2001-2011
decade, according to the provisional data of Census 2011 which was released on Thursday. Though the country’s
population isalmostequalto the combined population of theU.S.,Indonesia,Brazil,Pakistan,Bangladesh and Japan put
together [1214.3 million], the silver lining is that 2001-2011 is the first decade with the exception of 1911-1921 which has
actually added lesser population compared to the previous decade.
Of the total provisional population of 1210.2 million, the number of males was pegged at 623.7 million and the
population of females stood at 586.5 million. The percentage growth in 2001-2011 was 17.64 – males 17.19 and females
18.12. India’s population accounts for world’s 17.5 per cent population. The provisional data of Census 2011 was
released by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India C. Chandramouli in the presence of Union Home
Secretary G. K. Pillai.
``Provisionalpopulation isarrived atby adding the population as reported by each enumerator and the final population
data is likely to be released next year,’’ Dr. Chandramouli told reporters here.

6. Uttar Pradesh most populous state
Among the States and Union Territories, Uttar Pradesh is the most populous State with 199 million people followed by
Maharashtra at112 million peopleand Lakshadweep is theleast populated at 64,429 persons.The combined population
of U.P. and Maharashtra is greater than that of the U.S.
The percentage 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 U.P. shows a decline from 25.85 per cent to 20.09 per cent, in
Maharashtra from 22.73 per cent to 15.99 per cent, Bihar from 28.62 per cent to 25.07 per cent, West Bengal from 17.77
per cent to 13.93 per cent, Andhra Pradesh from 14.59 per cent to 11.10 per cent and Madhya Pradesh from 24.26 per
cent to 20.30 per cent. ``This shows that we have added population but the growth has been less,’’ Dr. Chandramouli
said.
Sex-ratio at national level increases
Overall sex ratio at the national level has increased by seven points to reach 940 as provisional data for Census 2011
showed as against 933 in Census 2001. Increase in sex ratio was observed in 29 States/Union Territories.
Kerala with 1084 hasthe highestsex ratio followed by Puducherry with 1038. Daman and Diu has the lowest sex ratio of
618. ``This is the highest sex ratio at the national level since Census 1971 and a shade lower than 1961. Three major
States – Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar and Gujarat – have shown a decline in sex ratio as compared to Census 2001,’’ Dr.
Chandramouli said. India’s skewed sex ratio due to female foeticide and the practice of selective sex determination has
been a cause for concern. Sex ratio is the number of females per 1000 males.
Child sex ratio a concern
However, the areas of grave concern, Dr. Chanramouli said, remains the lowest ever child sex ratio of 914. The
provisional data showed that the child sex ratio [0 to 6 years] came down to 914 females per 1000 males as against 927
in the Census2001. It showed a continuing preferenceformale children overfemales in the last decade. Increasing trend
in the child sex ratio wasseen in Punjab,Haryana,HimachalPradesh,Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and Andaman and
NicobarIsland but in all the remaining 27 States / Union Territories, the child sex ratio showed decline over Census 2001.
Whereas overall sex ratio has shown improvement since 1991, decline in child sex ratio has been unabated since 1961
Census. The total number of children in 0 to 6 year age group is now 158.8 million, less by five million since 2001.
Literacy rate has gone up from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to 74.04 per cent, showing an increase of 9.21 percentage points.
LINGUISTIC DEMOGRAPHICS
41.03% of theIndiansspeakHindi while the rest speakAssamese,Bengali,Gujarati,Kannada,Malayalam,Marathi,Odia,
Punjabi,Tamil,Telugu,Urdu and a variety of otherlanguages.
The languages spoken in India belong to several language families. Indo-Aryan languages account for 75% and
Dravidian accounts for 20%. There are many unclassified languages too.
Most South Indians in rural areas are bilingual, in that they could speak two local languages or atleast a language

7. and a dialect of another language. Many South Indians in urban areas are trilingual. I think the same would be the
case in North India if a person's family/region spoke a language other than Hindi, then the person would grow
speaking Hindi and an additional language.
In addition to this, we are taught two or atleast three languages in schools, which may or may not be languages that
we already know. It's safe to say that most Indians are bilingual/trilingual.
The most spoken languages in India, according to India's census data, are Hindi(422m), Bengali (83m),
Telugu (75m), Marathi (71m), Tamil (60m), Urdu (51m), Gujarati (46m), and Punjabi (29m)
Unemployment rate in rural India is 1.7
per cent: Minister
The unemployment rate in rural India is at 1.7 per cent and in urban areas at 3.4 per cent. NEW DELHI:
Theunemployment rate in rural India is at 1.7 per cent and in urban areas at 3.4 per cent, according to the
latest survey results of 2011-12 carried out by the National Sample Survey Organisation.Jul 14, 2014
The unemploymentrate inrural Indiaisat 1.7 per centand in urbanareas at 3.4 percent, according to the latestsurvey
resultsof 2011-12 carriedout by the National Sample Survey Organisation.
Tablingthe figure inLokSabha,ministerof statesforlabourand employmentVishnuDeoSai saidthe total numberof
employedpeopleinthe countywasat 47.4 crore while the numberof unemployedstoodat1.06 crore.
About33.7 crore and 13.7 crore people were workinginrural andurban India respectively,while the corresponding
figure forthe unemployedwas0.62 crore and 0.44 crore respectively,he saidinreplytoa question.

8. Sai addedthat there wasno proposal to extendsocial securitybenefitsunderthe UnorganisedWorkersSocial Security
Act, 2008, to unemployedpeople astheydidnotmeetthe eligibilitycriteriaasdefinedinthe Act.
Unemploymentrate inIndiarose to 4.9% in2013-14, mainlyonaccountof increase injoblessnessinrural areasdespite
the government'sflagshipemploymentscheme MGNREGA.
Accordingto the latestsurveyreportbyLabour Bureau,a wingof Labour Ministry,the unemploymentrate inchedupto
4.9% at all Indialevel lastfiscal,from4.7%in 2012-13.
On the positive side,the unemploymentrate droppedinurbanareasto 5.5% in 2013-14, from5.7% in the previous
fiscal.Meanwhile,although93%of the householdsinrural areasbenefitedfromMGNREGA,the unemploymentrate
increasedto4.7% last fiscal,comparedto4.4% a year ago.
Unemploymentrate amongmen increasedto4.1% in2013-14, from 4% in2012-13. Amongwomen,itincreasedto7.7%
lastfiscal,from7.2% in 2012-13.
However,the unemploymentrate amongwomencame downto12.4% inurbanareas, from12.8% in2012-13. The
studyrevealedthatthe LabourForce ParticipationRate (LFPR) isestimatedtobe 52.5% lastfiscal,whereasthe Worker
PopulationRatio(WPR) isestimatedtobe 49.9%.
As manyas 49.5% people are estimatedtobe self employed,followedby30.9% as casual labour,16.5% wage/salary
earnersandthe rest3% as contract workers.
About60.5 % of people aged15years andabove,whowere available forworkforall the 12 monthsduringthe period,
were able toget workthroughoutthe year.In rural and urban sectors,thisproportionwas53.2% and 78.5%
respectively.The 'FourthAnnual Employment&UnemploymentSurvey2013-14' has beenconductedinall the
states/UTsby coveringall the districts.The fieldworkwasexecutedfromJanuarytoJulylastyear.
A total of 1,36,395 householdswere coveredbythe survey -- 83,385 in rural areas and 53,010 inurban areas.