CENSUS OF INDIA 2011

Definition
▪ Population census is the total process of collecting, compiling, analyzing or otherwise disseminating demo-
graphic, economic, and social data pertaining, at a specific time, of all persons in a country or a well-
defined part of a country.
▪ As such, census provides a snapshot of the country’s population and housing at a given point of time.
▪ It also provides the trends in population characteristics.
▪ The Indian Census is one of the largest administrative exercises undertaken in the world.

Why is census necessary?

It is the biggest source of comprehensive data on:
▪ Demography
▪ Economic activity
▪ Literacy and education
▪ Housing and household amenities
▪ Urbanization
▪ Fertility and mortality
▪ Language, religion, and migration
▪ Scheduled castes and scheduled tribes

Nodal ministry
▪ The decennial Census is conducted by the Office of the
Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home
Affairs.
▪ Registrar General of India is the ex-officio Census Commissioner.
▪ Registrar general and census commissioner of India with effect from November
1,2022 - MRITUNJAY KUMAR NARAYAN
▪ Until 1951, the Census Organization was set up on an ad-hoc basis for each
Census.
▪ The Census Act was enacted in the year 1948 to provide a plan for conducting population census along with
the duties and responsibilities of census officers
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▪ Later, this office was also entrusted with the task of implementation of the Birth and Death Registration
Act, 1969 in the country.

Legal or constitutional backing

▪ Census is conducted under the provisions of the Census Act, 1948.
▪ The bill for this Act was piloted by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the then Home Minister of India.
▪ The population census is a Union subject under Article 246 of India Constitution.
▪ It is listed at serial number 69 of the seventh schedule of the constitution.

Confidentiality of information
▪ The information collected during the population Census is so confidential that it is not even accessible to the
courts of law.
▪ The confidentiality is guaranteed by the Census Act, 1948.
▪ The law specifies penalties for both public and census officials for non-compliance or violation of any
provision of the Act.
▪ Section 15 of the Census Act prohibits any data collected by Census officials from being made public.

History of census
Ancient and Medieval Period:
▪ Rigveda: The earliest literature 'Rig-Veda' reveals that some kind of population count was maintained during
800-600 BC in India.
▪ Arthashastra: 'Arthashastra' by 'Kautilya' written in the 3rd Century BC prescribed the collection
of population statistics as a measure of state policy for taxation.
▪ Ain-i-Akbari: During the regime of the Mughal king Akbar, the administrative report 'Ain-e-
Akbari' also included comprehensive data pertaining to population, industry, wealth and many other
characteristics.

Pre-independence Period:
▪ Initial Attempts:
▪ The history of the census began with 1800 when England had begun its Census.
▪ In its continuation, a census was conducted in Allahabad (1824) and in Banaras (1827-28) by James Prinsep.
▪ The first complete census of an Indian city was conducted in 1830 by Henry Walter in Dacca (now Dhaka).
▪ “HENRY WALTER” is known as the father of Indian census.
▪ The Second Census was conducted in 1836-37 by Fort St. George.
▪ In 1849, the Government of India ordered the local governments to conduct quinquennial (five-yearly)
returns of population.
▪ First Non-synchronous Census: It was conducted in India in 1872 during the reign of Governor-General Lord
Mayo. This Census did not cover all territories possessed or controlled by the British.
▪ First Synchronous Census: The first synchronous census was taken under British rule on February 17, 1881,
under Lord Rippon, by W.C. Plowden (Census Commissioner of India).
▪ In this Census, emphasis was laid not only on complete coverage but also on classification of demographic,
economic and social characteristics. The census of 1881 took in entire continent of British India (except
Kashmir)
▪ Since then, censuses have been undertaken uninterruptedly once every ten years (decennial census).
▪ Agricultural census is held after every 5 years.
▪ The first census of independent India began on 9 February 1951 (which was the seventh census in its
continuous series). In the Census of 1951 the entire Jammu and Kashmir was excluded from Census and its
population was estimated on the basis of past census figures.
▪ R. A. Gopalaswami held the position of Census Commissioner for India during the 1951 Census.

Salient Features of Census 2011

▪ Census 2011 was released in New Delhi on 31st March 2011 by Union Home secretary GK PILLAI and Dr. C.
CHANDRAMAULI.

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▪ CM CHANDRAMAULI was the registrar general and census commissioner of India for the 2011 Indian
census .
▪ Slogan of census 2011 – “Our Census Our future”
▪ It is the 15th census since 1872
▪ It is the 7th census since independence
▪ Census data 2011 was collected in 16 languages and the training manual was prepared in 18 languages.
▪ In 2011 India and Bangladesh also conducted their first census of areas along the border.
▪ It is the largest census in the human history ever conducted by any Government till now.
▪ No. of census functionaries – 2.7 million

2011 census covered:

▪ 640 district
▪ 5924 sub-districts
▪ 5767 Tehsils
▪ 7742 Towns
▪ > 6 lakhs villages
▪ Paper utilized – more than 11 million tones
▪ Total cost – 2209 crores

Population & Decadal growth

▪ Total Population of the country is 1,210,569,573 (1.21 billion)
▪ Males – 623.7 million (51.54%) females 586.46 million (48.46%)
▪ India’s population grew by 17.7% during 2001-11, against 21.5% in the previous decade (1991-2001).
Increase in Indian population during 2001-2011 was 181.96 MILLION.
▪ India's population grew between 2001-2011, at annual average rate of 1.64%
▪ Increase among Males : 90.97 million
▪ Increase among Female: 90.99 million
▪ Growth rate of females (18.3%) is higher than males (17.1%).
▪ Among the major states, highest decadal growth in population has been recorded in Bihar (25.4%)

Population (Rural and Urban) in millions

Total Rural Urban
Final Population 2011 1210.6 833.5 377.1

TOP POPULOUS STATES & UT OF INDIA

State Population
Uttar Pradesh 199,812,341
Maharashtra 112,374,333
Bihar 104,099,452
West Bengal 91,276,115
Andhra Pradesh 84,580,777
Most Populated Union Territory Delhi (1.678 Crore)

LEAST POPULOUS STATES/UT OF THE COUNTRY

S.NO. State/UT Population
1 Lakshadweep (least) 64,473
2 Daman And Diu 2,43,247
3 Dadra And Nagar Haveli 3,43,709
4 Andaman And Nicobar Islands 3,80,581
5 Sikkim (least) 6,10,577
6 Mizoram 10.9 Lakh
7 Arunachal Pradesh 13.8 Lakh

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Districts ranked by population

Top 3 Districts
Most populated District Population
Thane (Maharashtra) 11,060,148
North Twenty-Four Parganas (West Bengal) 10,009,781
Bangalore (Karnataka) 9,621,551

Bottom 3 Districts
Least populated District Population
Nicobars (Andaman and Nicobar Islands) 36,842
Upper Siang (Arunachal Pradesh) 35,320
Lahul & Spiti (Himachal Pradesh) 31,564

Rural and urban population

• Rural Area - 833.5 million persons live in rural area as per Census 2011, which is 68.84% (more than two-
third of the total population)
• Urban - 377.1 million persons live in urban areas (31.16%).
▪ Thus, Rural – Urban distribution : 68.8% & 31.2% resp.
▪ Level of Urbanization increased from 27 % .81 in 2001 Census to 31.2% in 2011.
▪ The proportion of Rural population decline from 72.19% to 68.8%
▪ Among the States/UTs in India the level of Urbanization (proportion of urban population to total
population) in Census 2001 is highest in NCT Delhi (97.5 %)
▪ Top five states in proportion of urban population are 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).
▪ Top 5 states in proportion of rural population are Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Orissa, Meghalaya

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Decadal Growth Rate Census Of India 2011

Decadal Growth rate State/UT
States With Highest Growth Rate Meghalaya (+27.9%)
Arunachal Pradesh (+26%)
Bihar (+25.42%)
Union Territories With Highest Growth Rate Dadar & Nagar Haveli (+55.9%)
States With Lowest Growth Rate Nagaland (-0.6%), Kerala (+4.9%)
Union Territories With Lowest Growth Rate Lakshadweep (-6.3%)

POPULATION DENSITY
▪ Population density is a measurement of population per unit land area
▪ India’s population density is - 382 PERSONS/km2 .
Highest Population Density State/UT (person/km2)

States With Highest Density of Population Bihar (1106)

West Bengal (1028)
Union Territories With Highest Density of Delhi (11320)
Population Chandigarh (9258)
District with Highest Density of Population Delhi’s North-East district (37,346)

Lowest Population Density State/UT (person/km2)

States With Lowest Density of Population Arunachal Pradesh (17)

Mizoram (52)
Union Territories With Lowest Density of Population Andaman & Nicobar (46)

District With Lowest Density of Population Dibang (Arunachal Pradesh)- 1 person/km2

Child Population (0-6 years)

▪ Out of 1.21 billion, the total number of children in India in the age‐group 0‐6 years, as per the Census
2011, is 164.5 million, which constitutes 13.59% of the total population.
Population 0-6 2011 (million)

Children 164.5
Males 85.7
Females 78.7

Sex Composition – Total Population (In millions)

Total population Males Females

2011 Census 1210.6 623.1 587.5

Sex Ratio in population

▪ Sex ratio is defined as the number of females per 1000 males in a population.
▪ It is an important indicator to measure the extent of prevailing equity between males and females at a
given point of time
▪ ADULT SEX RATIO - 943 - increased from last census (933)
▪ CHILD SEX RATIO- 919 - decreased from last census (929)

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Sex ratio in population

Adult Sex Ratio 2001 2011

Total 933 943

Rural 946 949
Urban 900 929

Adult Sex Ratio Data

Sex ratio 943
Highest sex ratio in state Kerala (1084) > TN (996) > Andhra Pradesh (993)
Lowest sex ratio in state Haryana (879) < Sikkim (890) < Punjab (895)
Highest sex ratio in UT Pondicherry (1037)
Lowest sex ratio in UT Daman and Diu (618)

Child Sex ratio (0-6) in population

Child Sex Ratio (0-6) 2001 2011

Total 927 919

Rural 934 923
Urban 906 905

Child Sex Ratio (0-6) Data

Sex ratio 919
Highest sex ratio in state Arunachal Pradesh (972)
Lowest sex ratio in state Haryana (834)
Highest sex ratio in UT Andaman & Nicobar (968)
Lowest sex ratio in UT Delhi (871)

Number of literates
▪ Literacy rate: The total percentage of the population of an area at a particular time aged seven years or
above who can read and write with understanding.
▪ The results of 2011 census reveal that there has been an increase in literacy in the country. The number of
literates in 2011 were 76.35 crore.
▪ The Literacy Rate of the population of the country has increased by 8 2. percentage points from 64 8%. to
74.04 over 2001‐11

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LITERACY Rate in india

Literacy Data
Total Literacy rate in India 74 .04 %
Males 82.14%
Females 65.46%
Male-female literacy gap 16.68%
Highest literacy rate in state Kerala (93.91%)
Lowest literacy rate in state Bihar (61.8%)
Highest literacy rate in UT Lakshadweep (91.85 %)
Lowest literacy rate in UT Dadra And Nagar Haveli (76.24%)

▪ HIGHEST LITERACY RATE-: Kerala (94%), Lakshadweep (92%), Mizoram(91%), Goa (88.7%),Tripura
(87.2%)
▪ LOWEST LITERACY RATE-: Bihar (61.8 %), Arunachal Pradesh (65.4 %), Rajasthan (66.1 %), Jharkhand
(66.4 %) and Andhra Pradesh (67 %).

Adult Literacy Rate (Age 15 Years and Above)

Year Male Female Total
2011 78.8 59.3 69.3

Rural Urban Adult Literacy Rate - 2011

Residence Male Female Total
Rural 74.1 50.6 62.6
Urban 88.3 76.9 82.8
Total 78.8 59.3 69.3

Population of SCs/STs in India

▪ Scheduled Castes are notified in 32 States/UTs of India and Scheduled Tribes in 30 States
Proportion of SCs Proportion of STs
Total 16.6% 8.6%
Rural 18.5% 11.3%
Urban 12.6% 2.8%

SC & ST POPULATION
Characteristics SC ST
Population % in India 16.6 % 8.6 %
State with highest Uttar Pradesh> Madhya Pradesh>
population West Bengal> Bihar Maharashtra> Odisha

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State with highest PUNJAB (31.9%)>Himachal Pradesh> MIZORAM (94.4%)>

population proportion West Bengal Nagaland > Meghalaya
State / UT with no Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Punjab, Haryana,
population Lakshwadeep and Andaman and Nicobar Chandigarh, Delhi,
islands Puducherry
• Delhi has the highest population of SC
• Lakshadweep has the highest proportion of ST (94.8%)

Religious demographics
▪ For the first time, a “No religion” category was added in the 2011 census.
▪ 2.87 million (0.2% of India’s population) were classified as people belonging to “No Religion”
▪ There are six religions in India that have been awarded “National Minority” status – Muslims, Christians,
Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and Parsis.
▪ The growth rate of population in the decade 2001-2011 was 17.7 %. The decadal growth rate of population
in the same period was - Hindus: 16.8%; Muslim: 24.6%; Christian: 15.5%; Sikh: 8.4%; Buddhist: 6.1% and
Jain: 5.4%.

Religious Communities of India, 2011

Religion Population Percentage
Hindu 79.80%
Muslim 14.23%
Christian 2.30%
Sikh 1.72%
Buddhist 0.70%
Jain 0.37%
Other religion 0.66%
Not stated 0.24%

QUICK FACTS
Particular State
State with highest population Uttar Pradesh
State with lowest population Sikkim
State with highest population density Bihar
State with lowest population density Arunachal Pradesh
State with highest proportion of Urban population Goa
State with highest proportion of Rural population Himachal Pradesh
States With Highest Population Growth Rate Meghalaya
States With Lowest Population Growth Rate Nagaland
State with highest SC population Uttar Pradesh
State with highest ST population Madhya Pradesh
State with highest SC population proportion Punjab
State with highest ST population proportion Mizoram
State with highest sex ratio Kerala
State with lowest sex ratio Haryana
State with highest child sex ratio (0-6) Arunachal Pradesh
State with lowest child sex ratio (0-6) Haryana
State with highest literacy rate Kerala
State with lowest literacy rate Bihar
UT with highest population Delhi
UT with lowest population Lakshadweep
UT with highest population density Delhi

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UT with lowest population density Andaman & Nicobar

UT with highest proportion of Urban population Delhi
UT With Highest Population Growth Rate Dadar & Nagar Haveli
UT With Lowest Population Growth Rate Lakshadweep
UT with highest SC population Delhi
UT with highest ST population proportion Lakshadweep
UT with highest sex ratio Pondicherry
UT with lowest sex ratio Daman and Diu
UT with highest child sex ratio (0-6) A. & N Islands
UT with lowest child sex ratio (0-6) Delhi
UT with highest literacy rate Lakshadweep
UT with lowest literacy rate Dadra And Nagar Haveli

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