Demographics of India

Demographics of India
Population of India, 1961-2003
Population:	1,180,166,000 (2010 est)
Growth rate:	1.548% (2009 est)
Birth rate:	22.22 births/1,000 population (2009 est)
Death rate:	6.4 deaths/1,000 population (2009 est)
Life expectancy:	69.89 years (2009 est)
–male:	67.46 years (2009 est)
–female:	72.61 years (2009 est)
Fertility rate:	2.72 children born/woman (NFHS-3, 2008)
Infant mortality rate:	{{{infant_mortality}}}
Age structure:
0-14 years:	31.1% (male 190,075,426/female 172,799,553) (2009 est)
15-64 years:	63.6% (male 381,446,079/female 359,802,209) (2009 est)
65-over:	5.3% (male 29,364,920/female 32,591,030) (2009 est)
Sex ratio:
At birth:	1.12 male(s)/female (2009)
Under 15:	1.10 male(s)/female (2009)
15-64 years:	1.06 male(s)/female (2009)
65-over:	0.90 male(s)/female (2009)
Nationality:
Major ethnic:	See Ethnic Groups of India
Language:
Official:	See Languages of India

The demographics of India are remarkably diverse. India is the second most populous country in the world, with over 1.18 billion people (estimate for April, 2010), more than a sixth of the world's population. Already containing 17.31% of the world's population, India is projected to be the world's most populous country by 2025, surpassing China, its population exceeding 1.6 billion people by 2050.^[1][2] However, India has an astonishing demographic dividend where more than 50% of its population is below the age of 25 and more than 65% hovers 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.^[3] India has more than two thousand ethnic groups, and every major religion is represented, as are four major families of languages (Indo-European, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman languages) as well as a language isolate (the Nihali language^[4] spoken in parts of Maharashtra).

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.^[5]

Salient features

India occupies 2.4% of the world's land area and supports over 17.5% of the world's population. India has more arable land area than any country except the United States,^[6] and more water area than any country except Canada and the United States. Indian life revolves mostly around agriculture and allied activities in small villages, where the overwhelming majority of Indians live. As per the 2001 census, 72.2% of the population^[7] lives in about 638,000 villages^[8] and the remaining 27.8%^[9] lives in more than 5,100 towns and over 380 urban agglomerations.^[10]

Religious demographics

India contains the majority of the world's Zoroastrians, Sikhs, Hindus, Jains and Bahá'í. India is also home to the third-largest Muslim population in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan.

Religious majorities vary greatly by state. Jammu and Kashmir and Lakshadweep are Muslim majority states; Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya are Christian majority; Punjab is mostly Sikh; It is to be noted that while participants in the Indian census may choose to not declare their religion, there is no mechanism for a person to indicate that he/she does not adhere to any religion. Due to this limitation in the Indian census process, the data for persons not affiliated with any religion may not be accurate.

The table below summarizes the findings of the 2001 census with regards to religion in India:

1. All figures in %.
2. Others including Bahá'ís, Jews, and Parsis.
3. Tribal Animists (and non religious) are grouped under Others after 1926 (1931 census onwards)

Linguistic demographics

43% of the Hindus speak Hindi while the rest speak Bangla, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Assamese and other languages. Almost 45% of the Muslims speak Urdu while the rest speak Bangla, Hindi, Kashmiri, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati, Assamese and other languages. About one-third of the Christians speak Malayalam, one-sixth speak Tamil while the rest speak a variety of languages. In total, there are 1,652 languages and dialects spoken in India.^[20]

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Chart showing the Total Fertility Rate of Indian states (SRS survey 1996-98)^[23]

Total Population

1,166,079,217 (July 2009 est. CIA)^[24] 1,028.7 million (2001 Census final figures, March 1 enumeration and estimated 124,000 in areas of Manipur that could not be covered in the enumeration)

Map showing the population density of each district in India

Rural Population

72.2%, male: 381,668,992, female: 360,948,755 (2001 Census)

Age structure

0–14 years: 30.8%, male: 188,208,196, female: 171,356,024
15–64 years: 64.3%, male: 386,432,921, female: 364,215,759
65+ years: 4.9%, male: 27,258,259, female: 30,031,289 (2007 est.)

Median age

25.1 years

Population growth rate

1.548% (2009 est.)

Birth rate

21.76 births/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Death rate

6.4 deaths/1,000 population (2009 est.)

Map showing the literacy rate of each district in India

Literacy rate

79.9%

Percent of the population under the poverty line

22% (2006 est.)

Unemployment Rate

7.8%

Net migration rate

−0.05 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.12 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.098 male(s)/female
15–64 years: 1.061 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.908 male(s)/female
total population: 1.064 male(s)/female (2006 est.)

Infant mortality rate

total: 30.15 deaths/1,000 live births (2009 est.) male: 34.61 deaths/1,000 live births female: 25.17 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 69.89 years
male: 67.46 years
female: 72.61 years (2007 est.)

Total fertility rate

2.72 children born/woman (2009 est.) The TFR (Total number of children born per women) according to Religion in 2001 was :

Hindus — 2.0 Muslims — 2.4 Sikhs — 2.1 Christians — 2.1 Buddhists — 2.1 Jains — 1.4 Animists and Others — 2.99 Tribals — 3.16 Scheduled Castes — 2.89

Religions

Hindu 80.5% Muslim 13.4% Christian 2.3% Sikh 1.8% Buddhists 0.8% Jains 0.4% others 0.7% unspecified 0.1% (2001 Census) ^{[25][26] [27]}.^[28]

Scheduled Castes and Tribes

Scheduled Castes: 16.2% (2001 Census) Scheduled Tribes: 8.2% (2001 Census)

Languages: See Languages of India and List of Indian languages by total speakers. There are 216 languages with more than 10,000 native speakers in India. The largest of these is Hindi with some 337 million (the second largest being Bangla with some 207 million). 22 languages are recognized as official languages. In India, there are 1,652 languages and dialects in total.^[20][29]

2020 Estimate

Table 2: Population Projections (in millions)

Source: Based on P.N. Mari Bhat, "Indian Demographic Scenario 2025", Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, Discussion Paper No. 27/2001.

Ethnic groups

The national Census of India does not recognize racial or ethnic groups within India,^[30] but recognizes many of the tribal groups as Scheduled Castes and Tribes (see list of Scheduled Tribes in India).

It should be noted that Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic are mainly linguistic terms and denote speakers of these linguistic groups.

For a list of ethnic groups in the Republic of India (as well as neighboring countries) see ethnic groups of the Indian subcontinent or the tree diagram above.

Genetics

^[31][32]

Y-chromosome DNA

Y-Chromosome DNA Y-DNA represents the male lineage, The Indian Y-chromosome pool may be summarized as follows where haplogroups R1a, H, R2, L & NOP comprise generally more than 80% of the total chromosomes.^[33]

• H ~ 30%
• R1a ~ 20%
• R2 ~ 15%
• L ~ 10%
• NOP ~ 10% (Excluding R)
• Other Haplogroups 15%

Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA mtDNA represents the female lineage. The Indian mitochondrial DNA, which is primarily made up of Haplogroup M^[34]

• Haplogroup M ~ 60%
• Haplogroup UK ~ 15%
• Haplogroup N ~ 25% (Excluding UK)

See also

• 15th Indian national census
• List of most populous cities in India
• List of most populous metropolitan areas in India
• List of states and union territories of India by population
• Ethnic groups of India
• National Commission on Population
• Indian diaspora
• Geography of India
• Racial groups of India
• Caste system in India
• Demography of Central Asia

References

External links

• Census of India; Govt. site with detailed data from 2001 census
• Census of India map generator; generates maps based on 2001 census figures
• Demographic data for India; provides sources of demographic data for India
• 2001 maps; provides maps of social, economic and demographic data of India in 2001
• Population cartogram of India

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