🃏 People and settlements (Geography)

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India — Population (2011)? — 1,210 million — second after China

India — Density? — 382 per sq km (117 in 1951)

India — Annual growth? — 1.64% (2011)

India — Decadal growth 2001–11? — 17.64%

India — Urban? — 31.16% of people

India — Villages? — 640,867 (597,608 inhabited)

India — Workers? — 39.8% of people (main + marginal)

India — Adolescents (10–19)? — about 20.9% (2011)

The Census: key facts? — Population data come from the Census, held every 10 years. The first Census was in 1872; the first complete Census in 1881.

Uneven distribution: key facts? — Uttar Pradesh has the largest population, followed by Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal; ten states hold about 76% of Indians. The river plains, deltas and coasts are crowded; the Himalayas, parts of the north-east and the west are thinly peopled — though irrigation (Rajasthan), minerals (Jharkhand) and transport (the Peninsula) have drawn people to new areas.

Density: key facts? — From 17 per sq km in Arunachal Pradesh to 11,297 in Delhi (2011). Among northern states, Bihar (1,102), West Bengal (1,029) and Uttar Pradesh (828) are densest; in the Peninsula, Kerala (859) and Tamil Nadu (555). Physiological density = people ÷ net cultivated area; agricultural density = agricultural population ÷ net cultivable area.

Four phases of growth: key facts? — 1901–1921: stagnant (negative growth in 1911–21). 1921–1951: steady growth as health and sanitation improved. 1951–1981: population explosion — mortality fell fast while fertility stayed high (about 2.2% a year). Since 1981: still high but slowing, as birth rates fall with later marriage and female education.

Regional growth: key facts? — In 1991–2001 Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Puducherry and Goa grew by no more than 20%; Kerala’s 9.4% was the lowest in India. A belt across the north-west, north and north-centre grew 20–25%. In 2001–2011 almost every state grew more slowly.

Youth: key facts? — The National Youth Policy (2014) defines youth as those aged 15–29; the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (2015) links skilling to jobs.

Work: key facts? — Main workers work at least 183 days a year; marginal workers less. About 54.6% of workers are cultivators or agricultural labourers (down from 58.2% in 2001), 3.8% in household industries and 41.6% in other work. Work participation ranges from 29.1% in Lakshadweep to 51.9% in Himachal Pradesh.

Languages: key facts? — Grierson’s Linguistic Survey of India (1903–1928) counted 179 languages and 544 dialects. Today there are about 22 scheduled languages; Hindi has the most speakers, and Sanskrit, Bodo and Manipuri the fewest (2011). Linguistic regions merge gradually at their edges.

Rural and urban? — Villages live mainly by primary activities on land; towns by manufacturing and services, and serve their rural hinterland. The Census (1991) calls a place urban if it has a municipality, corporation, cantonment board or notified town area committee, or at least 5,000 people, 75% of male workers outside farming and 400 people per sq km.

Clustered villages? — Compact villages of closely built houses, common in the fertile alluvial plains and the north-eastern states; built compact for defence in Bundelkhand and Nagaland, and to share scarce water in Rajasthan.

Semi-clustered villages? — A cluster with sections a little apart — often the dominant community in the centre and poorer groups on the edges; widespread in the Gujarat plain and parts of Rajasthan.

Hamleted villages? — One village split into separate units with a common name — panna, para, palli, nagla, dhani — in the middle and lower Ganga plain, Chhattisgarh and the lower Himalayan valleys.

Dispersed settlements? — Isolated huts or small hamlets in remote forests and hills, caused by fragmented terrain — many parts of Meghalaya, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala.

Urbanisation? — India’s urban population rose eleven-fold in the twentieth century, reaching 31.16% in 2011 — still low compared with developed countries; growth has slowed in the last two decades.

Towns by function? — Administrative (Chandigarh, New Delhi, Bhopal, Shillong…), industrial (Mumbai, Salem, Coimbatore, Jamshedpur, Bhilai…), transport (Kandla, Cochin, Kozhikode, Vishakhapatnam; Agra, Itarsi, Katni…), commercial (Kolkata, Saharanpur, Satna), mining (Raniganj, Jharia, Digboi, Ankaleshwar, Singrauli), garrison (Ambala, Jalandhar, Mhow, Babina, Udhampur), educational (Roorkee, Varanasi, Aligarh, Pilani, Prayagraj), religious and cultural (Varanasi, Mathura, Amritsar, Madurai, Puri, Ajmer, Pushkar, Tirupati, Kurukshetra, Haridwar, Ujjain) and tourist towns (Nainital, Mussoorie, Shimla, Pachmarhi, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Ooty, Mount Abu). As cities grow, they become multi-functional.

Smart Cities Mission? — Promotes cities with core infrastructure, a clean and sustainable environment and a decent quality of life, using smart solutions and compact, replicable models.

Share of the Indo-European (Aryan) language family? — 73% — Most of north, west, central and eastern India

Share of the Dravidian (Dravida) language family? — 20% — Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and parts of central India

Share of the Austric (Nishada) language family? — 1.38% — Meghalaya, Nicobar Islands and Munda speech areas of the east and centre

Share of the Sino-Tibetan (Kirata) language family? — 0.85% — The Himalaya and the north-east

Jammu & Kashmir (2011): density and urban share? — 124 per sq km; 27.21% urban

Himachal Pradesh (2011): density and urban share? — 123 per sq km; 10.04% urban

Punjab (2011): density and urban share? — 550 per sq km; 37.49% urban

Chandigarh (2011): density and urban share? — 9,252 per sq km; 97.25% urban

Uttarakhand (2011): density and urban share? — 189 per sq km; 30.55% urban

Haryana (2011): density and urban share? — 573 per sq km; 34.79% urban

Delhi (2011): density and urban share? — 11,297 per sq km; 97.5% urban

Rajasthan (2011): density and urban share? — 201 per sq km; 24.89% urban

Uttar Pradesh (2011): density and urban share? — 828 per sq km; 22.28% urban

Bihar (2011): density and urban share? — 1,102 per sq km; 11.3% urban

Sikkim (2011): density and urban share? — 86 per sq km; 24.97% urban

Arunachal Pradesh (2011): density and urban share? — 17 per sq km; 22.67% urban

Nagaland (2011): density and urban share? — 119 per sq km; 28.97% urban

Manipur (2011): density and urban share? — 122 per sq km; 30.21% urban

Mizoram (2011): density and urban share? — 52 per sq km; 51.51% urban

Tripura (2011): density and urban share? — 350 per sq km; 26.18% urban

Meghalaya (2011): density and urban share? — 132 per sq km; 20.08% urban

Assam (2011): density and urban share? — 397 per sq km; 14.08% urban

West Bengal (2011): density and urban share? — 1,029 per sq km; 31.89% urban

Jharkhand (2011): density and urban share? — 414 per sq km; 24.05% urban

Odisha (2011): density and urban share? — 269 per sq km; 16.68% urban

Chhattisgarh (2011): density and urban share? — 189 per sq km; 23.24% urban

Madhya Pradesh (2011): density and urban share? — 236 per sq km; 27.63% urban

Gujarat (2011): density and urban share? — 308 per sq km; 42.58% urban

Daman & Diu (2011): density and urban share? — 2,169 per sq km; 75.16% urban

Dadra & Nagar Haveli (2011): density and urban share? — 698 per sq km; 46.62% urban

Maharashtra (2011): density and urban share? — 365 per sq km; 45.23% urban

Andhra Pradesh (2011): density and urban share? — 308 per sq km; 33.49% urban

Karnataka (2011): density and urban share? — 319 per sq km; 38.57% urban

Goa (2011): density and urban share? — 394 per sq km; 62.17% urban

Lakshadweep (2011): density and urban share? — 2,013 per sq km; 78.08% urban

Kerala (2011): density and urban share? — 859 per sq km; 47.72% urban

Tamil Nadu (2011): density and urban share? — 555 per sq km; 48.45% urban

Puducherry (2011): density and urban share? — 2,598 per sq km; 68.31% urban

Andaman & Nicobar Islands (2011): density and urban share? — 46 per sq km; 35.67% urban