1.21 billion people, one land

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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