Demographics of India

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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 {{{infant_mortality}}}

rate:

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]

Contents
[hide]
 • 1 Salient features
o 1.1 Religious demographics
o 1.2 Linguistic demographics
• 2 CIA World Factbook demographic statistics
• 3 2020 Estimate
• 4 Ethnic groups
• 5 Genetics
o 5.1 Y-chromosome DNA
o 5.2 Mitochondrial DNA
• 6 See also
• 7 References

• 8 External links

[edit] 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]

[edit] Religious demographics

Main article: Religion in India

Table 1: 2001 Religious Data Composotion[11]
Religious Composition Population (%)
Hindus 827,578,868 80.5%
Muslims 138,188,240 13.4%
Christians 24,080,016 2.3%
Sikhs 19,215,730 1.9%
Buddhists 7,955,207 0.8%
Jains 4,225,053 0.4%
Other religions & persuasions 6,639,626 0.6%
Religion not stated 727,588 0.1%
1,028,610,32
Total 100.0%
8
N.B. "Total" excludes Mao-Maram, Paomata and Purul subdivisions of Senapati District of Manipur
state.

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 and
largest minority population.

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)

Table 2: Census information for 2001*

Composition Hindus[12] Muslims[13] Christians[14] Sikhs[15] Buddhist[16] Jains[17] Others[18]

% total of
80.5% 13.4% 2.3% 1.9% 0.8% 0.4% 0.6%
population 2001
10-Yr
Growth % (est 20.3% 29.5% 22.6% 18.2% 24.5% 26.0% 103.1%
'91–'01)[19]*
Sex ratio† (avg.
935 940 1009 895 955 940 1000
944)
Literacy rate
(71.7% for Age 75.5 60.0 90.3 70.4 73.0 95.0 50.0
7 & above)[20]
Work
Participation 40.4 31.3 39.7 37.7 40.6 32.9 48.4
Rate
Rural sex
944 953 1001 895 958 937 995
ratio[19]
Urban sex
922 907 1026 886 944 941 966
ratio[19]
Child sex ratio
925 950 964 786 942 870 976
(0–6 yrs)

N.B. Table excludes Mao-Maram, Paomata and Purul subdivisions of Senapati District of Manipur state.
* The data is "unadjusted" (without excluding Assam and Jammu and Kashmir); 1981 census was not
conducted in Assam and 1991 census was not conducted in Jammu and Kashmir.

† No. of females/1000 males.

[edit] Linguistic demographics

Main article: List of languages by number of native speakers in India

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.[21]

Languages of India by number of native speakers as per the 2001 census[22]

Rank Language Speakers Percentage
[23]
1 Hindi dialects 422,048,642 41.03%
2 Bengali 83,369,769 8.11%
3 Telugu 74,002,856 7.19%
4 Marathi 71,936,894 6.99%
5 Tamil 60,793,814 5.91%
6 Urdu 51,536,111 5.01%
7 Gujarati 46,091,617 4.48%
8 Kannada 37,924,011 3.69%
9 Malayalam 33,066,392 3.21%
10 Oriya 33,017,446 3.21%
11 Punjabi 29,102,477 2.83%
12 Assamese 13,168,484 1.28%
13 Maithili 12,179,122 1.18%
14 Bhili/Bhilodi 9,582,957 0.93%
15 Santali 6,469,600 0.63%
16 Kashmiri 5,527,698 0.54%
17 Nepali 2,871,749 0.28%
18 Gondi 2,713,790 0.26%
19 Sindhi 2,535,485 0.25%
20 Konkani 2,489,015 0.24%
21 Dogri 2,282,589 0.22%
22 Khandeshi 2,075,258 0.20%
23 Kurukh 1,751,489 0.17%
24 Tulu 1,722,768 0.17%
25 Meitei (Manipuri) 1,466,705* 0.14%
26 Bodo 1,350,478 0.13%
27 Khasi 1,128,575 0.112%
28 Mundari 1,061,352 0.105%
29 Ho 1,042,724 0.103%

N.B. The percentage of speakers of each language for 2001 has been worked out on the total population
of India (excluding Mao-Maram, Paomata and Purul subdivisions of Senapati District of Manipur state
due to cancellation of census results).

* Excludes Mao-Maram, Paomata and Purul of Senapati District.

[edit] 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)[24]
Total Population

1,166,079,217 (July 2009 est. CIA)[25] 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

71.7% (Age 7 & above) [26]

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[citation needed]

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) [27][28] [29].[30]

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.[21][31]

[edit] 2020 Estimate

Table 2: Population Projections (in millions)

Year Under 15 15–64 65+ Total

2000 361 604 45 1010
2005 368 673 51 1093
2010 370 747 58 1175
2015 372 819 65 1256
2020 373 882 76 1331

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

[edit] Ethnic groups

[show]
v•d•e
Ethnic groups of India

Indians

Mongoloids

Indo-
Aryans Dravidians
Tribals
 Meghalayans
Mizo
Tripuri
(িতপুরা)
Manipuri
(মিনপুির)
Naga
Lepcha(Róng)

Assamese (རོང)
Marath Gujarati Punjabi Kashmi Bengali Arunachali
Hindi Oriya
(বাঙালী) (অসম)
i (मराठी (ગુજરાતી (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ri
माणसं) લોકો) ) ُ ‫)کٲ‬
(‫شر‬
(िहनदी) (ଓଡିଆ)
(རོང་ཁ་)
Tamizh (தமிழர்)
Telugu
(తలుగు)
Kannadiga
(ಕನನಡಗ)
Malayali
(മലയാളി)

H, M, H, M, J S, H, S, H, M H, M H, C M, H H, M C, H, T
B, J M C, T
H, T
H, C
 C, T
B, H
B, T, H
H, C, M, A
H, M, C
H, M, C
H, C, M, A

The national Census of India does not recognize racial or ethnic groups within India,[32] 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.

[edit] Genetics
[33][34]

[edit] 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.[35]

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

[edit] Mitochondrial DNA

Mitochondrial DNA mtDNA represents the female lineage. The Indian mitochondrial DNA,
which is primarily made up of Haplogroup M[36]

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

[edit] References
1. ^ BBC - India's population 'to be biggest' in the planet
2. ^ United States Census Bureau - International Data Base (IDB)
3. ^ India's demographic dividend
4. ^ SIL International. "Ethnologue report for Language Isolate".
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90087. Retrieved 2007-10-11.
5. ^ India, a Country Study United States Library of Congress, Note on Ethnic groups
6. ^ GM Crops Around the World – an accurate picture GM Freeze, Table 3
7. ^ Rural-Urban distribution Census of India: Census Data 2001: India at a glance >> Rural-
Urban Distribution. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved
on 2008-11-26.
8. ^ Number of Villages Census of India: Number of Villages Office of the Registrar General and
Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved on 2008-11-26.
9. ^ Rural-Urban distribution Census of India: Census Data 2001: India at a glance >> Rural-
Urban Distribution. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved
on 2008-11-26.
10.^ Urban Agglomerations and Towns Census of India: Urban Agglomerations and Towns. Office
of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved on 2008-11-26.
11.^ [1]
12.^ "Tables: Profiles by main religions: Hindus". Census of India: Census Data 2001: India at a
glance >> Religious Composition. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner,
India. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/religion.aspx.
Retrieved 2008-11-26.
13.^ "Tables: Profiles by main religions: Muslims". Census of India: Census Data 2001: India at a
glance >> Religious Composition. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner,
India. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/religion.aspx.
Retrieved 2008-11-26.
14.^ "Tables: Profiles by main religions: Christians". Census of India: Census Data 2001: India at a
glance >> Religious Composition. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner,
India. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/religion.aspx.
Retrieved 2008-11-26.
15.^ "Tables: Profiles by main religions: Sikhs". Census of India 2001: Census Data 2001: India at
a glance >> Religious Composition. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner,
 India. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/religion.aspx.
Retrieved 2008-11-26.
16.^ "Tables: Profiles by main religions: Buddhists". Census of India: Census Data 2001: India at a
glance >> Religious Composition. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner,
India. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/religion.aspx.
Retrieved 2008-11-26.
17.^ "Tables: Profiles by main religions: Jains". Census of India: Census Data 2001: India at a
glance >> Religious Composition. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner,
India. http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/religion.aspx.
Retrieved 2008-11-26.
18.^ "Tables: Profiles by main religions: Other religions". Census of India: Census Data 2001:
India at a glance >> Religious Composition. Office of the Registrar General and Census
Commissioner, India.
http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/religion.aspx. Retrieved
2008-11-26.
19.^ a b c "Census of India.". Census of India. Census Data 2001: India at a glance >> Religious
Composition. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India.
http://www.censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/India_at_glance/religion.aspx. Retrieved
2008-11-26.
20.^ http://mospi.gov.in/press_note_NSS_%20Report_no_532_19may10.pdf
21.^ a b Mother Tongues of India According to the 1961 Census
22.^ Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2000, Census of India, 2001
23.^ includes Western Hindi, Eastern Hindi, Bihari languages, Rajasthani languages and Pahari
languages.
24.^ National Population Policy of India
25.^ CIA World Factbook -- India
26.^ http://mospi.gov.in/press_note_NSS_%20Report_no_532_19may10.pdf
27.^ Religious Composition Census of India: Census Data 2001: India at a glance >> Religious
Composition. Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved on
2008-11-26.
28.^ International Religious Freedom Report 2007 — India International Religious Freedom Report
2007. U.S. Department of State.
29.^ CIA's The World Factbook — India
30.^ Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs — Background Note: India
31.^ Rupert Goodwins. Smashing India's language barriers. ZDNet UK.
32.^ Kumar, Jayant. Census of India. 2001. September 4, 2006. Indian Census
33.^ http://www.pnas.org/content/103/4/843.full
34.^ http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2148-5-26.pdf
35.^ Hammer et al. 2005, S. Sahoo et al. 2006, R. Trivedi et al. 2007, Zhao et al. 2008
36.^ Semino et al. 2000, Kivisild et al. 2003, Metspalu et al 2004, Rajkumar et al. 2005,
Chandrasekar et al. 2007, Gonzalez et al. 2007

[edit] 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
 [show]
v•d•e
Life in India

[show]
v•d•e
Demographics of Asia

[show]
v•d•e
Ethnic groups in Asia

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_India"

Categories: Demographics of India
Hidden categories: Articles with unsourced statements from November 2008

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