Population is a pivotal element in social studies. India occupies a unique position in the world population. Though India occupies the seventh position in geographical area. But in terms of population it is the second most populous country in the world, next to China.
Census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the member of a given population. Once in ten years information is collected about all people who do this survey go from house to house and find out the number of people living, in every house, in every village, town, city. The census provides us with a lot of information such as how old people are, their occupation, houses, education, religion etc. The Registrar General & Census Commission of India, organises the collection and recordings of this information.
Main Points
* Population is a pivotal element in social studies.
* Census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population.
* In India once in ten years census is conducted. The census shows us the age structure, the sex ratio, the literacy rate and the life expectancy.
* The Central Government Institution, Census of India organizes the collection and recording the information.
* The population of a nation is generally grouped into three broad categories.
They are (i) children (ii) working age and (iii) aged people.
* Sex ratio is defined as number of females per 1000 males in the population.
* Sex ratio is an important social indicator to measure the extent of equality between males and females in a society.
* Sex ratio in India is very low. According to 2011 census, the sex ratio in India is 940. i.e. 940 women per 1000 men. Kerala has highest sex ratio (1084), Bihar (877) least sex ratio.
The main reason for declining sex ratio in India are female foeticide, Gender Discrimination, considering female child as burden.
* Women's education has a powerfull force in reducing discrimination against women.
* A person aged 7 years and above, who can read and write with understanding in any language is treated as literate.
* First census of India was taken in 1872. According to 2011 census population of India is 1.21 billion people.
* Literacy rate in India increased from 12% in 1947 to 74% in 2011.
* Census of India grouped working age people into 4 categories namely
(i) cultivators (ii) Agricultural labourers (iii) working in household industries (iv) other workers.
* Population is dynamic, keeps changing. This is because of interaction of three processes like (i) Births (ii) Deaths and (iii) Migrations.
* Population change can be expressed in two ways (i) as absolute numbers and (ii) as percentage change.
* Since 1981, birth rates have also started declining gradually resulting, in a gradual decline in the rate of population growth. The fertility rate for India in 1960 was more than 5.6. It was reduced to 2.7 right now.
* India has 74.04% of literacy rate according to the census of 2011.
* The average number of persons living in a square kilometre of area is called 'density of population'.
* Increasing in food production, medical and health facilities, living standards made population explosion in India.
